Brooklyn Birds, and Other Forms of Wildlife

...it crawled over the guys face.

The rats are everywhere lately. I think it is a result of trash bags not being picked up due to the snow.

Maybe they burn more energy to stay way in the cold, and that makes them take more risks Re: me stomping them.

....regardless, I saw 4 of them yesterday, and was only able to kill 1.

Dude, you used your SHOE to stomp on a rat?! I seriously hope you pored a disinfectant on that shoe.

You can give us advice, but my dog and I have a refined routine.

Upon seeing them, he gives chase.

The dumb rats then decide that running toward me is wiser than trying to out run the dog.

They then meet the shoe.

Don't worry, most rats are not dumb.

They somehow know that my dog is on a leash and the smartest thing to do is run way from both the dog and its owner.

While I appreciate your concern for my health, dog owners have a different threshold for what germs we fear. At this point, ebola is one of the few germs I worry about.

(you have my permission to can add this to your current list of reasons that u will never shake my hand)

I discovered a another rathole near my domicile. It happens to exist behind the garbage cans of an apartment building. I saw these HUGE rats in the daytime. Whenever you see rats scuttling about in the daytime, that is recipe for trouble and disaster.

Still, stomping on rats is another recipe for disaster. Rats still carry the plague, dude. The Plague.

This sounds like a excellent reason to kill them while I am wearing my winter boots.

....perhaps there will less of them by the time the weather warms up and I am wearing sandals again.

'Whynot, Da Ratstompa'! I Love it! That's a great moniker dude! You should write a few rhymes and spit a few lyrics. You're guaranteed a record deal![s]

I don't know if anyone can confirm my perception but I am noticing that there are more rats about this year than there were last year. Case in point: It has become the norm that I encounter holes in garbage bags as I put out the garbage on the eve of pickups, and, to my horror, I see rats burrowing into garbage bags in the broad light of day. Also, I see a great deal of rat fecal matter about. I mean, a great deal of it. This never happened last year.

The typical reasons I have heard for this increase has been that the increase in construction in the neighborhood, and even latently, on the would-be stadium on Atlantic is pushing rat populations southward. It would be fascinating to see if there are any correlating studies on this -- gentrification and rat populations. I believe I read somewhere that the city has cut back on its pest control operations, and that too is a cause of an increase in rat populations.

A co-worker of mine has pet rats and in conversation with her she swears that rats are more afraid of us than we are of them, and I am sure that they are, by virtue of how they scurry away when they perceive threat, however, it's the inadvertent hazards I worry about, namely the potential for disease in what parasites inhabit there skin as well as the germs in their fecal matter.

Alas, this is not pleasant conversation.

Great article in the most recent Atlantic Monthly about the dangers of cat feces.... (The one with Obama on the cover...)

http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/8873/

I took home the message that I should get a cat, that way I could attribute my craziness to it.

Well, I would still worry. I can't imagine a benefit from aspirating in close contact with dog pooh.

I think it is best to get rid of pooh of all varieties quickly.

Humans seemed to have evolved a negative association with the smell, but some animals have not.