OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Two Bay Area cities had the unfortunate distinction of making the list in a new study focused on growing rat populations around the world. The trend, according to the research, claims the trend is due to climate warming and urbanization.
The Alameda County Vector Control District responds to rodent calls throughout all of Alameda County, but crews spend a majority of their time in Oakland, where rodents, especially rats, run rampant.
“Unfortunately, we have a large amount of rats running in Oakland just due to the unhoused population situation that’s here,” said Adena Why of vector control.
A check on traps set by vector control at Mosswood Park offers a snapshot of the problem.
“They come to the encampments because of the food and everything that’s available here, um, our work has gone up in terms of what we do and the services we provide to the county,” said Why.
Why is the chief and scientific manager at vector control. She contributed to the new study “Increasing Rat Numbers in Cities are Linked to Climate Warming, Urbanization and Human Population.” It was published last month in Science Advances.
The research was led by University of Richmond biology professor Jonathan Richardson, an urban ecologist whose scholarship focuses on rat populations.
“All the animals know is that you built a really nice home for yourself and they’re not dumb,” said Why. “So, they’ll just move right in and take up residence as well because you provided a nice structure for them.”
Using an average of about 12 years of data from 16 cities across the globe, the study found rat populations significantly increased in 70 percent of those cities during the study period, including:
- Washington D.C.
- San Francisco
- Toronto
- New York City
- Amsterdam
- Oakland
Cities with less vegetation cover on land, meaning more urbanization, experienced increased growth in rat populations. The only cities in the study that saw declines were Tokyo, Louisville, and New Orleans.
“The numbers seem to be increasing and then the other issue is that what we have left to kind of combat them on a large scale is decreasing,” said Why. “We have more restrictions on using rodenticides and other things that we do need to be able to have as a public health tool in case there is an outbreak.”
Why says the problem will only worsen the more we continue to construct communities where we did not build in the past. The urbanization of wildlands is forcing us to co-exist with all sorts of animals — including rats.
“The rats are not going anywhere, unfortunately,” Why said.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Two Bay Area cities had the unfortunate distinction of making the list in a new study focused on growing rat populations around the world. The trend, according to the research, claims the trend is due to climate warming and urbanization. The Alameda County Vector Control District responds to rodent calls throughout […]
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