It was the summer of 2018 and rats were everywhere: running across Bloor Street in broad daylight; nesting in residential neighbourhoods, under garages, sheds and home additions; swarming backyards where grass seed had been sprinkled.
Rats were finding their way into parked vehicles and chewing on engine wiring or the food-stained straps of child car seats. They were taking over alleyways at dusk with a brazenness residents hadn’t seen before. They were tunnelling into homes and emerging through basement floorboards or nesting under bathtubs. They were chewing through the dense polyethylene shell of organic waste bins. One woman found rats in her kitchen, tearing apart bread bags. Several residents reported seeing rats emerge from their toilets.
America’s rattiest city has an official Rat Plan, a Rat Czar, and a twice-annual Rat Academy. In Toronto, Canada’s rattiest city, residents are
Two Toronto councillors are asking city staff for a report on rat reduction strategies.
