IS THERE A Seattleite who hasn’t encountered a rat, with its beady eyes, pointy incisors, long scaly tails and that eerie rhythmic sniffing aimed right at you?
Rodents love our town, a seaport with a moderate climate and plenty of good eats left by the locals. In January, I wrote about these creatures and their history with humans, and with this city.
Back on Feb. 14, 1905, this paper carried a story about rats swarming through City Hall vaults and chewing up valuable papers. They were described as being “as large as kittens.”
More than 100 years later, I printed some of your complaints to Public Health — Seattle & King County.
“Well, we came back from a trip, and there was a dead rat in our basement toilet,” reported a Magnolia man. He concluded, “Reconsidering my wife’s desire to get a cat. Questioning a lot of things in life now …”
HERE’S AN UPDATE. Through October of this year, there were 244 rat complaints to Public Health, in comparison to 216 in all of 2022. The agency says complaints fluctuate from year to year. And, obviously, these are complaints from those who went to the trouble to actually file a report.
As far as rats, we rank nationally.
In 2022, we were No. 11 in the Top 50 Rattiest Cities List, based on new rodent treatments done by Orkin, a national pest control company.
In 2023, we were No. 12.
So, really, our Seattleites vs. rats proportion has stayed the same, which means a consistent list of creepy encounters.
HERE’S A 2023 anecdote from the public health agency’s rodent control workshop:
One of the field trainers was Chris Somers, service manager for Rambo Total Pest Control out of Puyallup. (The business, by the way, is not named after a Sylvester Stallone movie; that’s the last name of the owners.)
He led a group to a site in Lower Queen Anne that was known for its rat population.
Somers remembers, “Rats were out in broad daylight, running around and jumping between dumpsters. But even more impressive than that, we watched a rat jump onto a forklift, climb over the front and steering wheel, hop onto the driver’s lap and proceed to crawl up the driver. It came within a few inches of the driver’s face. One of the attendees had to run over and use his notebook to shove the rat off of the driver.”
Somers summarized, “That’s bold rat activity …”
I MADE A public records request for recent rat complaints. No neighborhood is spared.
Here is a June one from Magnolia concerning a town house with overgrown front and backyards, and a nearby lot where a home was razed: “This year, the rats are truly feeling out of control. They are running through my/our yard — front/side/back — all times of day. Jumping up/through rock walls and fences. I am finding droppings all over the yard this year, like never before. … I’ve seen evidence of rats under my car hood and on engine block. Possible evidence of them burrowing under pavers in back as well. It’s awful.”
Here is an October complaint from the Yesler Terrace area: “About a month ago, I called to report a rotten (rat) problem on our street. Since that call, the number of rats [has] duplicated. We see about 15 rats every time we walk down the street. They are digging holes, constantly fighting with each other and running throughout the street, especially at night. We do believe the problem started with the tearing down of an apartment. At this point, we need the city’s help.”
BOBBY CORRIGAN, PROBABLY the nation’s top rat expert, is based in Westchester County, N.Y. He was here for that September rodent workshop.
“This animal has a secret weapon. We don’t pay enough attention to it,” says Corrigan. “You don’t get out every day and wonder, ‘What’s going on with rats? Wonder if I should do something?’ “
Public Health warns, “Keep garbage can lids closed tightly.”
But, says Corrigan, “Nobody worries, ‘Did I do my garbage can correctly? Is it being done correctly by my neighbors?’ “
FINALLY, WHAT TO DO if you encounter a rat in your toilet that followed a sewer line and just made a wrong turn.
“Stay calm!” says Public Health on its website. Then, “Keep the lid down so it can’t jump out.”
Then, “Squirt some liquid dish soap in the toilet to help break the surface tension of the water. The soap degreases the oils on the rat’s fur so it can’t stay afloat in the water.”
Then, “Flush the toilet! The rat will usually go back down the drain the same way it came up.”
And if it doesn’t?
“You may need to flush multiple times.”
Sit back, and just picture that scenario.
