Why Are Rats Surging in DC?

WASHINGTON, DC — Is D.C. facing a rat crisis? That seems to be a possibility in the wake of a surge in sightings of the hairy pests and a new effort by the National Park Service to clear them out.

Of course, if you ask most people, the city has long been home to many rats: after all, we have Congress. But the real four-legged, long-tailed kind are a major threat, as they can cause damage and spread some awful diseases in a tightly packed city.

A recent ranking by nationwide pest control company Orkin pegged Washington, D.C. as the third most rat-infested city in the nation, behind only Chicago and New York, based on the number of rodent treatments Orkin performed between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2016. That's pretty bad, considering that the only two cities to beat the District far outstrip D.C. in terms of population.

Last month, the D.C. Department of Health and the National Park Service announced they were teaming up to fight the rat problem in the city. The health department will deploy workers to national parks in the city to treat potential infestations, and residents are urged to call 311 when they see rats.

So why is this happening to D.C.? As it turns out, we're not unique. A report earlier this year by USA Today indicated that multiple major U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago and New York as well as D.C., were seeing big surges in rat complaints. Chicago, for example, saw a 70 percent surge in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year.

The report indicates that D.C. is blaming mild winters -- i.e., global warming -- on the surge in rat populations.

But never fear, says the D.C. Department of Health: they insist they're prepared to rain doom on the aggressive pests. It's just going to take a lot of work.

Image via Wikimedia user Edal Anton Lefterov