"Can anything turn the tide? Earlier this month, Ward 4 Council member Janeese Lewis-George introduced the Rodent Accountability and Transparency Amendment Act, or RAT Act, to improve enforcement and transparency of rodent sightings. Meanwhile, Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon promised additional federal action. "I'm going to draft legislation that tasks the city of DC to kill all the rats," he posted on X . "I hate them with a vengeance.""
"For answers, we spoke with Alberta rat and pest specialist Karen "Rat Lady" Wickerson, who has run the province's rat control program for six years. "You can walk down a back alley in Edmonton or Calgary, and you can go bang a dumpster and you're not going to have rats coming out," she said. "I think it's hard for people in other jurisdictions to believe too, particularly in big cities in Canada and the US.""
Washington, recently ranked the rattiest of major U.S. cities, faces a persistent rat problem despite political rancor and sporadic measures. Local proposals include the Rodent Accountability and Transparency Amendment Act to improve reporting and enforcement, and federal promises to legislate aggressive control. Alberta operates a 75-year rat regulation and removal program that achieves near-rat-free status through sustained management. Alberta specialist Karen "Rat Lady" Wickerson reports an absence of rats in urban alleys. Alberta logged 875 reported sightings last year but confirmed only 47 rats, with most reports misidentifying muskrats or mice, different species, genus and family.
Read at Washingtonian - The website that Washington lives by.
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