2008 Woodie Awards
Vermin plague the city
Lea C. Spencer
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News
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Jared Molton, a sophomore journalism major, was studying in his living room on a recent Sunday evening when it happened again. He was jarred by a brown blur in his Peterborough Street apartment.
"I saw something flash across in my peripheral," he said. "And when I saw it again, scurrying across the room, I knew it was a mouse."
For Molton, one mouse is no big deal - rodent wise. At least it wasn't a rat, he said.
No vermin experience can compare with the day he moved into Stetson West.
"On my first night in Boston, I saw my first rats on Hemenway [Street]," Molton said. "That was really scary because I thought, wow, I'm going to school in a rat-infested area. That's bad hygiene."
According to Boston's Inspectional Services Department, the problem has worsened in the Back Bay neighborhoods, Beacon Hill and Allston-Brighton where complaints about rats have doubled during the last fiscal year. Citywide, complaints about rats jumped from 1,218 to 1,675. And, in October, a report issued by a national rodent-control company rated Boston as the third most likely city in the country to confront a surge in the rat population during the next few months, as the creatures begin their breeding season.
Justin Kammer, sophomore nursing major, said he wasn't so much concerned with the bad hygiene of rats as he was of their sheer yuck factor.
"I was sitting in the Park Street station waiting for the E line when a rat ran out from under the bench I was sitting on and scurried across the tracks," Kammer said.
The subway stations are a common place to see rats in any city, Kammer said. For him it was particularly traumatic and, in regard to the experience, he added: "I almost died."
Most of the rats in Boston are Norway rats, identified by their pointy ears and sharp teeth, in addition to growing to nearly a foot long with beady eyes and a scraggly tail.
One piece of evidence indicating a rat presence is three-quarter inch, capsule-shaped droppings.
"I saw something flash across in my peripheral," he said. "And when I saw it again, scurrying across the room, I knew it was a mouse."
For Molton, one mouse is no big deal - rodent wise. At least it wasn't a rat, he said.
No vermin experience can compare with the day he moved into Stetson West.
"On my first night in Boston, I saw my first rats on Hemenway [Street]," Molton said. "That was really scary because I thought, wow, I'm going to school in a rat-infested area. That's bad hygiene."
According to Boston's Inspectional Services Department, the problem has worsened in the Back Bay neighborhoods, Beacon Hill and Allston-Brighton where complaints about rats have doubled during the last fiscal year. Citywide, complaints about rats jumped from 1,218 to 1,675. And, in October, a report issued by a national rodent-control company rated Boston as the third most likely city in the country to confront a surge in the rat population during the next few months, as the creatures begin their breeding season.
Justin Kammer, sophomore nursing major, said he wasn't so much concerned with the bad hygiene of rats as he was of their sheer yuck factor.
"I was sitting in the Park Street station waiting for the E line when a rat ran out from under the bench I was sitting on and scurried across the tracks," Kammer said.
The subway stations are a common place to see rats in any city, Kammer said. For him it was particularly traumatic and, in regard to the experience, he added: "I almost died."
Most of the rats in Boston are Norway rats, identified by their pointy ears and sharp teeth, in addition to growing to nearly a foot long with beady eyes and a scraggly tail.
One piece of evidence indicating a rat presence is three-quarter inch, capsule-shaped droppings.
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