Overwhelming Rat Population Connected to Lack of Research in Urban Settings

A mother rat (behind) and two pups (in front) emerge from a storm drain basin in NYC. The mother rat is taking her young to feast on nearby garbage bags filled and left sitting overnight prior to sanitation removal the next day. Image credit: Michael Cammer, NYUIn order to fight the worldwide rat population, researchers believe the battle starts with access to urban properties.

Thought to be responsible for spreading disease, fouling food, igniting fires, and disabling vehicles, rats present a threat to both health and safety.

However, according to an article published in the Journal of Urban Ecology, scientists and pest management professionals aren’t doing enough to wage war against the intrusive species — citing a lack of urban rat population studies as one possible reason.

The study authors believe that gaining access to private residences or businesses and allowing them to surveil rats using scientific equipment in the private settings would improve pathogen surveillance, help researchers to better understand population distribution and allow for the testing of several novel control methods.

"They are the bane of urban environments, associated with poverty, disease and fines by public health authorities" said Jason Munshi-South, co-author of the paper and associate professor of biology at Fordham University. "Business owners plagued with rats are reluctant to tell anyone, or to share their residences with researchers."

One method being employed by researchers is offering free, confidential extermination services to residents willing to allow researchers the chance to study the rodents before exterminating them.

"We neglect to study them at our own peril", added Michael H. Parsons, lead author of the paper and a visiting research scholar at Fordham University. "No war has ever decimated 1/3 of the human population. Rats have."

Currently, Parsons is also offering a possible $1,000 reward for information leading to a viable research site in Manhattan for future studies.