Rats on the Ballot, and Why Cities Keep Building Rat Habitat

Rats are on the ballot in Canadian municipal elections this fall, with several political parties promising to tackle city rat problems. The promises are harder to keep than they sound, and the reason is biological. Rats are synanthropes — species that benefit from living alongside humans — and they have adapted remarkably well to paved, cacophonic, bustling streets. A city is not a hostile environment for them; it is a habitat they are equipped for. Municipal policies and bylaws shape how those environments are built and maintained, and those decisions influence living conditions for both people and rats. Which is why rat policy tends to be neighbourhood policy with a tail.