According to the Daily Mail on April 13, with the spread of new crown pneumonia in the United States, people have chosen to stay at home, and quarantine measures have led to the closure of city restaurants. American experts pointed out that restaurants are closed, food residues are in short supply, rats fight each other due to lack of food, and hungry rats incarnate as "piranhas", not only killing each other, but also endangering human safety.
Urbanist Bobby Corrigan described how the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the way rats in the U.S. shift their mode of survival as people stay at home, causing thousands of restaurants and other businesses to close down and cutting off the rats' food sources.
Now, rats attack each other in order to maintain food, and even hungry rats will bite people, which is by no means alarmist.
"Restaurants in New York are suddenly closing, not just in New York City, but on the West Coast and around the world," Corrigan said.
"The rats who live near this restaurant probably depend on the food at this restaurant. But now, they have no food source. ”
"When hungry rats migrate to areas where food is still available, rat wars ensue. It's like what we've seen in human history, where people with armies try to seize land and fight to the death for who can conquer it. The same is true of rats now. ”
"Rat armies are now gathered where there is food, but food is limited, and rats can only fight for food by killing each other, and the victorious rats can get food."
"Rats are mammals, just like you and me, so when you're really, really hungry, your behavior is hard to control, so now these rats often kill each other, and adult rats even kill their cubs in their nests."
"Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, some people have not changed the way they dispose of their household waste, and the rats in that area are also in a normal state of life. But slowly, some people may see an increase in rats near their homes."
Several cities, including New Orleans, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are taking aggressive action to curb the increase in rat populations.
In New Orleans, there are videos showing swarms of rats occupying roads, a sight that local officials attribute to social isolation.
Mayor Latoya Canrell said at a news conference late last month: "Our quarantine measures are driving our rats crazy. When the rats are hungry, they will look for food and water. ”
"Hungry rats can put the homeless people on our streets in a very bad situation. That's why I'm very focused on this issue right now. ”
Claudia Riegel, director of the New Orleans Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Commission, said the city is working to reduce the rat population.
"We put in baits, and when the rats are hungry, they eat the baits to control the number of rats," she said. ”
Washington, D.C., is also struggling to control rat populations as officials see a surge in the number of rat-related 311 calls. In Baltimore, city officials have also seen an increase in rat-related complaints.
But Corrigan said people don't need to panic about rat invasions, stressing that the situation is different in every city.