Inti Navia 
The Windy City is at the top of the list on a list nobody wants to be on. For the eighth year in a row, (yes, the eighth) Chicago has been named the “rattiest” city in the United States.
According to ABC7 News, Orkin Pest Control ranked metro regions by the number of new rodent treatments performed from Sept. 1, 2021, to Aug. 31, 2022. This ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.
The U.S. as a whole gets an estimated 21 million rodent infested homes per year, and COVID didn’t help. Because of more outdoor dining, since indoor restaurants were closed, rats didn’t need to become tiny little chefs to get a fine dining experience. Because of all the crumbs scraps on the ground, all the major cities became a breeding ground, especially Chicago.
Rodents usually start trying to find shelter from the falling temperatures between the months of October and February. Rats can find entry points inside the house if they smell enough food left out, so make sure to clean up the dinner table and take out the trash regularly. That being said, also check your home for cracks and other ways that rodents can get in. You don’t want to deal with rodents in the walls.
To “try” avoiding coming in contact with rats, be sure to tend to your yard. For those of you with lawns, tall grass and piles of wood can easily become a rat’s nest. With that said, keep your yard clean.
Not to shame Chicagoans, but not even New York has more rats than us. In a city with no alleys, where they leave their overflowing trash bins on the street, it still has less rats than Chicago. The ranking of the top cities were (1) Chicago, (2) New York, (3) Los Angeles and (4) Washington, D.C.
Chi-town, we’re obviously doing something wrong. It’s time to step up our game! Let’s let another city take the top spot next year.
By Inti Navia, Senior, ChiArts
Instagram @intinavia
Help us continue to lift youth voices in their schools and communities. Donate to True Star at: elevate.truestarfoundation.
