These cities have big rat problems, and there’s one thing to blame

這些城市有嚴(yán)重的老鼠問(wèn)題，但有一件事可以背鍋

By Laura Paddison and Ella Nilsen, CNN
upxed 3:42 PM EST, Fri January 31, 2025

A golden retriever checks out a giant rat at Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto. Nick Lachance/Toronto Star/Getty Images

一只金毛獵犬在多倫多的Trinity Bellwoods公園調(diào)查一只大老鼠。

CNN — There’s a saying that in a big city you are never more than six feet away from a rat. It’s an urban myth, but scientists are warning cities across the globe are becoming far rattier, and the boom is primarily driven by one factor: climate change.

俗話說(shuō)，在大城市，你與老鼠的距離永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)超過(guò) 6 英尺。這是一個(gè)都市神話，但科學(xué)家們正警告說(shuō)，全球各地的城市正變得越來(lái)越糟糕，而這種（陰溝里的）繁榮主要是由一個(gè)因素推動(dòng)的：氣候變化。

Jonathan Richardson, a biology professor at the University of Richmond, decided to research urban rat trends after seeing media reports of rats taking over cities. These tended to focus on single locations and “usually without a lot of hard data,” he told CNN.

里士滿大學(xué)（University of Richmond）的生物學(xué)教授喬納森·理查森（Jonathan Richardson）在看到媒體報(bào)道老鼠接管城市后，決定研究城市老鼠的（變化）趨勢(shì)。他告訴 CNN，這些報(bào)道往往聚焦在單一地點(diǎn)，并且“通常缺少大量的硬/客觀數(shù)據(jù)”。

He and his team decided to change that. They requested rat stats from the 200 biggest US cities by population, but found only 13 had the quality long-term data they needed. To give more geographical range, the researchers also included three international cities: Toronto, Tokyo and Amsterdam.

他和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)決定改變這種狀況。他們請(qǐng)求美國(guó) 200 個(gè)人口最多的城市提供老鼠統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)，但發(fā)現(xiàn)只有 13 個(gè)城市擁有他們需要的高質(zhì)量的長(zhǎng)期數(shù)據(jù)。為了提供更廣泛的地理范圍，研究人員還包括了三個(gè)國(guó)際城市：多倫多、東京和阿姆斯特丹。

The data collected spanned an average of 12 years and comprised rat sightings, trappings and inspection reports.

收集的數(shù)據(jù)平均跨越 12 年，包括老鼠的目擊、誘捕和檢查報(bào)告。

It revealed “significant increasing trends” in rat numbers in 11 of the 16 cities, according to their study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances. Washington DC, San Francisco, Toronto, New York City and Amsterdam experienced the biggest growth. Just three saw declines: New Orleans, Louisville and Tokyo.

根據(jù)他們周五發(fā)表在Science Advances雜志上的研究，顯示了16個(gè)城市中的11個(gè)的老鼠數(shù)量“增加趨勢(shì)顯著”。華盛頓特區(qū)、舊金山、多倫多、紐約市和阿姆斯特丹的增長(zhǎng)幅度最大。只有三個(gè)城市出現(xiàn)下降：新奧爾良、路易斯維爾和東京。

The study lixed rat increases to several factors, including high population densities and low amounts of urban vegetation, but the predominant influence was warmer average temperatures.

該研究將大鼠的增加與幾個(gè)因素聯(lián)系起來(lái)，包括高種群密度和低城市植被數(shù)量，但主要影響是溫暖的平均溫度。

Rats are small mammals and limited by the cold, Richardson said. Warmer temperatures, especially in the winter, give them longer to be outside foraging and, crucially, longer to reproduce through the year.

老鼠是小型哺乳動(dòng)物，受到寒冷/低溫的限制，理查森說(shuō)。更溫暖的溫度，尤其是在冬天，讓它們有更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間在戶外覓食，而且至關(guān)重要的是，一年內(nèi)更長(zhǎng)的繁殖時(shí)間。

A warmer climate can also extend growing seasons, providing rats more food as well as vegetation to hide in, said Michael Parsons, an urban field ecologist and wild rat expert who was not involved in the research. “Even scents of food and rubbish can travel farther in warmer weather,” he told CNN.

一位并未參與這項(xiàng)研究的城市野外生態(tài)學(xué)家和野生老鼠專家邁克爾·帕森斯（Michael Parsons）表示，溫暖的氣候還可以延長(zhǎng)生長(zhǎng)/成長(zhǎng)季節(jié)，為老鼠提供更多的食物和可以躲藏的植被?！霸跍嘏奶鞖饫?，實(shí)際上食物和垃圾的氣味也可以傳播得更遠(yuǎn)，”他告訴CNN。

Burgeoning rat populations are a big problem for cities. Rats damage infrastructure, contaminate food, and can start fires by gnawing through wires. They cause an estimated $27 billion of damage each year in the US, according to the report.

迅速增長(zhǎng)的老鼠數(shù)量是城市面臨的一個(gè)大問(wèn)題。老鼠會(huì)破壞基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，污染食物，并通過(guò)啃斷電線來(lái)引發(fā)火災(zāi)。根據(jù)該報(bào)告，它們每年在美國(guó)造成約 270 億美元的損失。

They are a health hazard, too. “Rats are associated with more than 50 pathogens that affect people,” which they transfer through their urine, feces, saliva nest, materials and parasites, said Matt Frye, a pest expert at Cornell University, who was not involved in the research.

它們也對(duì)健康構(gòu)成危害?？的螤柎髮W(xué)（Cornell University）的害蟲專家馬特·弗萊（Matt Frye）說(shuō)，“老鼠與50多種影響人類的病原體有關(guān)”，它們通過(guò)尿液、排泄物、唾液巢、（接觸過(guò)的）物質(zhì)和寄生蟲傳播這些病原體。

Some of these can be severe, such as leptospirosis, also called Weil’s disease, which can cause kidney and liver damage and even death without treatment.

其中一些可以很嚴(yán)重，例如鉤端螺旋體病，也稱為偉伊（Weil）病，如果得不到治療，它會(huì)導(dǎo)致腎臟和肝臟損傷，甚至死亡。

There is also increasing evidence rats have “huge mental health impacts” on the people living around them, Richardson said.

理查森說(shuō)，還有越來(lái)越多的證據(jù)表明，老鼠對(duì)生活在它們周圍的人有“巨大的心理健康影響”。

Even among the rattiest cities identified in the study, Washington, DC, stood out. It had a 1.5 times greater growth in rat populations than New York City.

即使在研究中被認(rèn)為是最糟糕的城市里，華盛頓特區(qū)還是脫穎而出/引人注目。它的老鼠數(shù)量增長(zhǎng)是紐約市的1.5倍。

The tell-tale sign of a rat problem in DC is a hole chewed through a hard plastic trash can. “The only way you can rodent proof a trash can is not to put food in it,” said Gerard Brown, who runs the city’s rodent control program.

在華盛頓特區(qū)，老鼠問(wèn)題的一個(gè)透露的跡象是（那里的）硬塑料垃圾桶被咬穿了一個(gè)洞?！胺乐估埃ū唬﹪X動(dòng)物（咬）的唯一方法是不要在里面放食物，”負(fù)責(zé)該市嚙齒動(dòng)物控制項(xiàng)目的杰拉德·布朗（Gerard Brown）表示。

Last year was DC’s hottest on record — bad news for attempts to control rats. Brown is hoping the cold snap in December and January will help cull the population. “Cold acts as a natural exterminator,” he said.

去年是華盛頓特區(qū)有記錄以來(lái)最熱的一年——這對(duì)于試圖控制老鼠來(lái)說(shuō)是個(gè)壞消息。布朗希望12月和1月的氣溫驟降/短期降溫將有助于控制該種群?！昂淦鸬搅颂烊粶缡笏帲ǖ淖饔茫?，”他說(shuō)。

Brown and other city officials attempted a rat birth control pilot project several years ago but abandoned it after inconclusive results. The rats had to consume a liquid birth control daily, an impossible task to guarantee.

布朗和其他的市政府官員幾年前曾嘗試過(guò)一個(gè)老鼠控制生育試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目，但在結(jié)果不確定后放棄了。（因?yàn)椋├鲜蟊仨毭刻旆靡环N液體避孕藥，這是一項(xiàng)無(wú)法保證的任務(wù)。

A brown rat crawls through trash at unx Station Plaza in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File

2022年1月12日，一只棕色老鼠在華盛頓特區(qū)聯(lián)合車站廣場(chǎng)的垃圾中爬行。

Brown said DC’s numbers could be so high because the city encourages residents to call in each rat sighting.

布朗說(shuō)，華盛頓特區(qū)的數(shù)字會(huì)如此之高，是因?yàn)樵撌泄膭?lì)居民每次看到老鼠時(shí)都打電話（告訴當(dāng)局）。

Public reports of rats are very useful but can be flawed, said field ecologist Parsons. People normally only make a call when they see something “unusual,” he said, and not when rats are expected in any given area.

野外生態(tài)學(xué)家帕森斯說(shuō)，關(guān)于老鼠的公共報(bào)告非常有用，但可能有瑕疵。他說(shuō)，人們通常只在看到“不尋?！钡那闆r時(shí)才會(huì)打電話，而不是在任何特定區(qū)域有老鼠時(shí)打電話。

It is incredibly hard to pin down accurate urban rat numbers, Parsons added. “Rats are small, cryptic and usually nocturnal.”

帕森斯補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，要確定準(zhǔn)確的城市老鼠數(shù)量非常困難?！袄鲜蠛苄。苌衩?，通常在夜間活動(dòng)。”
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Richardson said the high number of rats in some cities is no indictment of authorities’ commitment to tackling the problem, but rat-reduction efforts are often underfunded.

理查森說(shuō)，一些城市的老鼠數(shù)量眾多并不是對(duì)當(dāng)局處理問(wèn)題的控訴/不滿，但減少老鼠無(wú)力/困難往往是因?yàn)橘Y金不足。
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Lessons can be learned from the three cities in the study that reduced rat populations, he said. He chalks their success up to campaigns informing residents how to avoid attracting rats and making city resources available to help.

他說(shuō)，可以向該研究中的三個(gè)減少了老鼠數(shù)量的城市學(xué)習(xí)。他將這些城市的成功歸功于告知居民如何避免吸引老鼠，以及利用城市現(xiàn)有的資源提供幫助。

Richardson also encouraged authorities to move away from lethal control, “because it’s just responsive to infestations that are already there,” and think more about how to take away access to what rats rely on, such as food waste, garbage access and debris piles.

理查森還鼓勵(lì)當(dāng)局放棄滅殺控制，“因?yàn)樗皇菍?duì)已經(jīng)存在那里的侵?jǐn)_做出反應(yīng)”，以及更多地思考如何拿走老鼠賴以生存的東西，例如食物浪費(fèi)、垃圾獲得和雜物堆。

The findings are a wake up call about the challenge rats may pose in a warmer world, Richardson said. “If you don’t have a handle on this, it’s only going to get worse. You don’t want to be like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up a hill.”

理查森說(shuō)，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)為老鼠在變暖的世界（全球變暖）中可能帶來(lái)的挑戰(zhàn)敲響了警鐘?！叭绻悴惶幚磉@個(gè)問(wèn)題，情況只會(huì)變得更糟。你不會(huì)想像西西弗斯一樣把那塊巨石推上山。

In DC, Brown said he is optimistic about the city’s battle to keep its rats under control. “Nobody in the world thinks we are totally going to get rid of rats, but we can reduce them to a manageable level,” he said. “The goal is to control and reduce.”

至于華盛頓特區(qū)，布朗表示，他對(duì)該市控制老鼠的斗爭(zhēng)持樂觀態(tài)度。“世界上沒有人認(rèn)為我們會(huì)完全擺脫老鼠，但我們可以將它們減少到可控的水平，”他說(shuō)?！澳繕?biāo)是控制和減少?！?br />