Chicago, overrun by rats, pleads for feral cats.

[former9thward]

The New Must-Have Yard Accessory: a Feral Cat

CHICAGO—Nicolas Cuervo and his neighbors called, texted and pleaded. Finally, after over three months of waiting, their highly coveted order arrived: a crate of stray cats. “It was almost like getting a newborn,” said Mr. Cuervo, a 44-year-old copywriter, who had three cats from a street pack delivered to him last month. Now, Mr. Cuervo is waiting some more—to see if he can persuade the beasts to stick around.

Chicago is awash in rats. A mild winter last year allowed broods of baby rats to survive, leading to an explosion of the critters, terrorizing residents as they run around their yards and dumpsters. By September, there had been 27,000 rat complaints, a 40% increase from 2015. This is turning the alley cat, once considered a rabid urban menace threatening small children and pets, into a prized possession. Or at least as much of a possession as a stray cat can be.

“I’ve been offered bribes,” said Paul Nickerson, who runs the Tree House Humane Society’s Cats at Work program, which places feral cats that have been trapped, microchipped and spayed or neutered with rat-plagued Chicagoans. But he won’t budge on the waiting list, which has stretched to six months amid the frenzy.

Once the cats arrive, the new owners face a daunting challenge making a connection with wild versions of animals that are famously standoffish in the best of circumstances. Feral cats are more akin to wild raccoons than cuddly house pets, hissing or scratching if you try to pick them up.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-must-have-yard-accessory-a-feral-cat-1477508397

[Iliyah]

1. NY and other cities as well . . .

On a side note, the bubonic plague in Europe could have been avoided if religious fanatics who claimed cats were evil were allowed to roam the streets but instead these religious freaks terminated them.

[tenaciousdem]

2. Here on the big Island of Hawaii

we have rats, lots of rats, big fat rats to say the least. As well as rats, we have cats, lots and lots of feral cats. The feral cats and rats, despite the fact cats hate rats, well, cats don't seem to be helping in reducing the rat population.

Surprisingly, feral cats that are born in the wild here in Hawaii have a very short life span. Despite all of the rats, chameleons, geckos, mice, etc, they still don't get enough nutrition to survive more than 2 or 3 years.

The mongoose was introduced in Hawaii to help control the rats, it didn't work. The mongoose is active during the day and the rat is active at night. Oops.

A breed of dog called the rat terrier would do more damage than feral cats. Perhaps you could sexually sterilize them via a food source. slowly but surely sterilizing them into extinction by feeding them tasty morsels that eliminate their ability to be fruitful and multiply.

[snooper2]

4. You are missing a great business opportunity

By a food truck- You have a free source of meat to cook and sell...Think of the profit margin!

[pansypoo53219]

3. need bigger cats. rat terriers.

[mnmoderatedem]

5. I don't know about rats but

a friend of mine recently narrowly avoided being sprayed by a skunk. Right near downtown Chicago.

[rusty fender]

7. But is there a feral cat big enough

to get rid of the rat Mayor

[SDJay]

8. We Have That Problem in North County San Diego

There are rats, mice, skunks, possum, raccoons, moles, gophers and all sorts of critters in my yard at any point during the night. The rats in particular have gotten bad. I don't mind the possum. One of our dogs is a rescue that was a stray and kills anything he can grab. He has taken out dozens of rats over the past few years if not more. The problem is that I need to see this happen because if I don't he eats them. Another thing this does is mostly keep the raccoons and skunks away, as they don't want to mess with dogs if they can avoid them.

I won't poison them - that's too cruel and dangerous for any other critters that may want a snack. Traps get filled almost nightly, but that's like throwing a deck chair off the proverbial Queen Mary. I've been told by an exterminator that I know that (a) for every rat you see, there are probably 25 more nearby somewhere and that (b) every rat you kill means that probably about 100 will never be born.

What we're doing is installing a barn owl house. It's only about a 50/50 chance that a family of owls will move in, maybe less in an old-school city-type neighborhood. If they do, though, barn owls will eat their weight in rodents every single night and stick around for the long haul.

Not sure if that's feasible for folks in colder/urban environments, but we're hoping it does the trick. We've seen a few owls fly by over the years. Hopefully a family of them decide to call our yard home. That seems to be the best possibility of controlling the population. Our drought has really pushed the critters out of the eastern part of SD County towards the coast where we live.