This was supposed to be a light, funny chronicle about how boring football has become. Or so it seems to me after the last 3 international competitions. What use to be called catenaccio, is now called parking the bus. The day took a different turn though when a rat was spotted, brazenly walking in the middle of our street, coolly jumping on a tyre to disappear inside the car itself. The absolute lack of concern of the rodent, despite our street being a busy 4 lane, was not the major surprise. After all, rats are my weekly running companions in the nearby park, since a few months now. The true surprise was the answer of the city admin, after reporting the incident: “Oh well, you have to learn to live with them”.
Funny, shocking, outrageous in itself? Take your pick.
Researching the topic just brought a jaw dropping revelation, unheralded, it seems that indeed, most cities have one answer: “Just learn to live with the rats”.
And after all, why not? Rats are incredibly clever. They can even look cute in a certain angle, if you like beady eyes. But they are as well a vector of diseases. At the very least, rats are by definition a symptom of dirty cities. And, if it comes to that, well, they can chew through concrete walls, cables, anything really. To the extent that they have been linked to blackouts and even nuclear incidents.
Ratatouille must go.
Except, that city policies around the world are rather … paws-off.
The city of Ghent itself classifies “extermination” literally under the “living together” department. Of course, it is a nuisance overall, but, it seems a telling start as the point does not seem to be eradication. And efforts are made to reassure the public by describing rats as clean, human-shy. Well, not really in my experience. More like needing more bin men and more frequent refusal collection.
The picture above was taken from 3 meters. So human-shy, they are not anymore. At least not in Ghent. The problem seems to spread and many cities in Belgium follow the same path, right up to reassuring us that the rodents are humanely killed.
Extermination by pillows it is.
But of course, the “living together” would not be complete without the by now standard “educational drive”: enter the Brussels rat museum. Sorry the Sewer Museum with a section about our friends the rats. And yes, the numbers continue to rise, so if you can’t beat them, … bear it and grin?
It could be some administrative disfunction in Belgium, which would be an extremely rare occasion indeed, but this is the same policy in Paris, London, or even New York. With the same results: invasion. All these cities apparently struggle since a decade in keeping the rat population under control. What we had some centuries ago seems now impossible? Street sanitation, refusal managements, sewers etc… I remember being taught in school that these were the great victories for everyone – together with street lamps and tarmac.
Oh well, down it goes, together with “Greatest Healthcare in the World”. National myths.
But it does not mean that there is no action.
Paris tried a rather original “living together” strategy. First, you see, they are not big bad dirty rats.. no.. they are cutesy field mice. A basic re-branding to lessen the negative connotations. Un-housed not homeless.
Once the laughter died online at the city council, then came the second layer. The city declared strong measures to “make the rats go back underground”: locking bins,… But, probably not convinced of their own success, they were studying in parallel how to fight … the “prejudices of Parisians against rats to live better together”. Found out, that plan did not go down well either. But given that the council woman was elected as Senator a year later, I am hopeful that such a ground-breaking project still has some heft in it to succeed.
London is partly overrun, to the extent that rats apparently do attack humans in some estates. I did not verify this myself, but it would not be a shock. And New York has been in the throes of a rat invasion for years, without an end in sight.
Ever the pragmatists, the Germans seem to think that we should learn how to play with rats. At least they already know how we can make them enjoy it too, apparently rats make leaps of joy to make their pleasure known and squeak ultrasonic giggles. Right. As the article says, “almost humans”. Next? I suggest cockroaches.
Maybe it is actually not a problem at all, and, like dogs or cats, rats may be semi feral pets we learn to live with. That would only be a modification of our primal animal reflex of space appropriation (namely: that is my space and my food, get out). We could “live better together” and invite Ratatouille instead of poisoning him.
We should wonder how, around all the capitals of the world, we hear about bicycle lanes, … but see rats. That is a systemic failure of delivering the most basic administrative services. I thought that was the whole point of having elected administrators and paying local taxes. I stand corrected.
Meanwhile in Ghent, we took action. We have since 2017 a 19 meter high steel rail on our main square, the Korenmarkt. It is a standard construction beam BUT with one side polished. Why? So that light and shadow play “a cat and mouse game interrupted only once a year when light and shadow catch on the 1st may at 16h00”.
Given the probability of the sun shining in Ghent at 16h00 on a 1st of May, the rats will certainly be confused.
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