‘Boston doesn’t like rats’: City establishes rodent action plan

As anyone who’s seen The Departed knows, Boston doesn’t like rats.

In an effort to curb the city’s growing rat problem, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced a “rodent action plan” Wednesday.

A joint group comprising the city’s Operations Cabinet, Inspectional Services Department, Public Works Department, Boston Public Health Commission, Parks and Recreation, Community Engagement Cabinet, Boston 311, Boston Housing Authority, Department of Innovation and Technology and the Boston Water and Sewer Commission will determine the best way to make use of the city’s resources to win the war against the rodents.

“Boston takes pride in distinguishing our city through delivering exceptional basic city services for safe and clean streets, beautiful public spaces, and responsive and accessible city government,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “We’re working to make Boston a home for everyone. Except for rats. Our rodent action plan, which is informed by this data-driven report, will guide our approach across our neighborhoods.”

The Rodent Action Plan will work off the foundation of a report commissioned by the Inspectional Services Department (ISD) and authored by Dr. Bobby Corrigan, a renowned Urban Rodentologist.

The report cites various contributing factors to the city’s growing rat problem, including poor trash mitigation, storage, and removal. Because Boston is one of the nation’s oldest cities, its densely populated neighborhoods, intertwining alleyways, old sewer systems, and century-old cobble or brick streets and sidewalks are a rodent’s paradise.

The report says that unprotected trash bags, a norm in some parts of the city, are a rodent magnet. Corrigan also suggests adding rodent sensors, remote rat monitor technology above ground, and shared routine camera scoping below ground/sewers to trace infestations and vulnerabilities.

Last month, the Boston City Council said they were exploring the idea of birth control to curb the city’s rat population.

Boston City Council exploring birth control to curb rat problem

The report suggests Boston do the following:

• Build on the City’s ongoing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach. Integrated pest management stresses addressing the environmental root causes first and from there utilizing various extermination approaches
• Ensure the goal of rat management program, whenever possible is preventative instead of reactionary
• Utilize data related to complaints, physical inspections, geo-mapping, population cluster models, and additional emerging technology to target efforts
• Establish a Priority Action Neighborhood (PAN) plan for the top 3-5 most afflicted neighborhoods to reduce currently established rodent hot spots
• Incorporate specialized infrastructure-specific rat control for Parks, Sewers and Alleys, and major construction zones
• Move towards alternative baits and other effective tools for controlling rats that do not present environmental threats to wildlife

“Boston doesn’t like rats, and rat mitigation is one of the priority quality of life issues for this administration,” said Chief of Operations Dion Irish. “We are excited and optimistic about the enhanced collaboration amongst city agencies whose work impacts rodent mitigation. Dr. Corrigan’s report will be a valuable resource that will aid us in building on the great work already being done towards developing and implementing an action plan that prioritizes addressing root causes, utilizes data & technology, and reduces environmental hazards.”

According to BPHC, the current rodent population does not pose a high public health threat to Bostonians.

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