The city of Chicago has been duly known as the “rat capital” for six years, and a local animal protection agency has put 1,000 feral cats on the streets to tackle the growing rat population.
Chicago’s Treehouse Animal Protection Society launched a program called “Cats at Work” in 2012 and has so far put 1,000 feral cats on the city’s streets to deal with rodents, the Daily Mail of London reported Wednesday. These wild cats have been sterilized.
The Treehouse Animal Protection Society said some homeowners provided the wildcats with “food, water, shelter” and offered goodwill. Sarah Lees, a spokeswoman for the association, said: “Many people tell us that before the cat came, people stepped out of the house and there were rats running under their feet. ”
Chicago’s rat disease dates back to the 1970s. At that time, residents caught a mouse and received a $1 bonus. Since May last year, rats have become more aggressive in foraging because of the Coronavirus outbreak that led to restaurant closures and rats “cut off supplies.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning people to be extra careful about rat aggression.
In April, it was reported that some mice were hungry enough to feed on their peers.
Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco are in the top five, according to a 2020 U.S. city rat-level ranking.
