Live coverage from the inaugural National Urban Rat Summit, Day 1

Editor’s Note: This post will be updated throughout Day 1 of the event.

An example of New York City’s marketing for rodent prevention. IMAGE: PMP STAFF

The first-ever National Urban Rat Summit is taking place this week at Pier 57 in New York City. The event got underway Wednesday morning with NYC Rat Czar Kathy Corradi introducing a welcome address from NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who quipped “We are united in our front to fight Mickey.”

Corradi then introduced Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the NYC Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene, who noted that by 2050, 70 percent of people will be dwelling in cities, and thus the need for rodent control best practices is increasing.

When Dr. Matt Frye, New York State IPM, Cornell University, took to the podium, he enthused, “This is awesome to gather so many researchers and leaders who are all here to talk about rats!”

The educational sessions kicked off with Dr. Kaylee Byers from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. She spoke anout the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) One Health program, which focuses on “healthy people, healthy animals and healthy environments.” Takeaways from Dr. Byers’ presentation included:

• Researchers are finding more instances of human Hepatitis E, being traced back to interaction with rat feces.

• While many rat zoonostic diseases can be treated with antibiotics, there is a troubling rise in the amount of disease strains becoming resistant to many different antibiotics. “This is a real concern because you’re taking time to try different antibiotics,” says Dr. Byers, “and in the meantime the illness gets worse.”

• Leptospira is on the rise worldwide. This is true in flooded areas especially, with people walking through polluted waters with cuts or abrasions on their legs. The problem is leptospiosis often includes fever and flu-like symptoms. “Doctors can easily misdiagnose and it goes underreported,” Dr. Byers points out.“When we are doing pest management, it’s important to track disease over time.”

• Urban rat infestations are a social justice and healthy equity issue. Dr. Byers quotes a study that found a link between daily interaction with rats and higher levels of depression — 5.5 times more likely than those who do not encounter rats in daily life.

The war on rats

Dr. Chelsea Himsworth is a veterinarian from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She spoke about why for many municipalities, the “war on rodents won’t succeed” — at least in their current iteration. Takeaways from Dr. Himsworth’s presentation included:

• “Policy is more than just paper. It’s how a group or program can accomplish a common goal.”

• While there are no silver bullets or even finite solutions, there is a plus side:  The opportunity for new tools, such as rodent monitoring systems, and new approaches, such as assessment pest management. Factors that must be considered in a proper approach include:

• Comprehensiveness
• Consistency
• Viablity
• Cost-benefit ratios
• Goals and definitions of success
• Evaluation
• Evolution over time

“Like the war on drugs, our true goal in the war on rats is to not get rid of the rats, but the harm that is occurring [in human interaction],” Dr. Himsworth said. “Make that the goal, because this way, we can still make gains even when we cannot get rid of rats themselves.”

She spoke about how Vancouver has a group that removes the excess fallen fruit from orchards planted throughout the city and donate it to hunger centers. This not only benefits the hungry, it reduces rodent activity in those areas because a major food source has been removed.  Similarly, repairing sewers has reduced pest presence, including rats. In helping municipalities fine-tune their rat control policies, she advises four things to keep in mind:

1. Identify and quantify the goals and justify investment.
2. Prioritize areas for intervention to optimize resource allocation.
3. Understand risk factors so tailored solutions can be created.
4. Measure outcome to ensure the program is making progress, and adjust as needed.

Last but not least, Dr. Himsworth stresses, “Invest in people to carry out these goals.”

Rat mitigation through risk reduction and data collection

Dr. Maureen Murray, Lincoln Park Zoo Urban Wildlife Institute, Chicago, Ill., wrapped up the morning presentations. She spoke about non-target exposure of anticoagulant rodenticides, and how to reduce this risk by removing conducive conditions. Dr. Murray also noted that consumer education is better handled with fact-based messaging about rodent control and prevention as opposed to fear-mongering.

“It’s important to instead focus on how the public can proactively reduce risks from rats, understand proper rodenticide use, and learn about alternative rodent control methods,” she said.

After a lunch break, the Wednesday afternoon sessions kicked off with Dr. Jonathan Richardson from Virginia’s University of Richmond. He spoke about “Urban Rat Population Dynamics: How Knockdowns and Rebounds Impact Long-term Trends.”

“To be successful, we have to understand basic rat ecology and demography,” said Dr. Richardson, pointing to work done by Dr. Dave “Dr. Rat” Davis in Baltimore, Md., in the 1950s. Dr. Davis went block by block in Baltimore neighborhoods, carefully collecting data on Norway rat count and conducive conditions. Later, he did the same for New York City and several other large cities. Dr. Richardson overlaid recent GIS maps that collected similar New York City data — showing that many of the hot spots Dr. Davis recorded seven decades before still exist.

By using new data modeling technologies, Dr. Richardson predicts that ultimately, rodent control could not only be drilled down for hot spots in individual urban markets, “but also predict for all cities” when and where might be the best times to treat.

Dr. Claudia Riegel also touched on the data collection topic in her presentation, “The Wicked Problem of Urban Rats.” Dr. Riegel, director of the City of New Orleans Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board, noted there were six areas for municipalities to consider in their rodent management programs, specifically:

1. The complexity of rodent management
2. Environmental conditions
3. Infrastructure
4. Municipal codes
5. Human behavior
6. Resources

Noting how much of rodent prevention — and really, most pest prevention — could be alleviated with simple fixes like repairing leaky faucets and bringing pet food dishes inside, Dr. Riegel quipped that “I’m in the business of stating the obvious! And you have to be eternally optimistic because you have to say it a million times.” Moreover, in New Orleans, all the talk can be followed up by action, either by enforcing the municipal codes that are already on the books regarding public health, rodent problems, landlord responsibilities, etc., and the fines that come with them, or by having someone from the board’s staff come by and repair the broken window, replace the trash can lid, etc.

“Rodent control programs vary in size and scope, so there needs to be a call to action on what we need to be doing,” she said, referring to best management practices her team has developed since its inception in the mid-2000s. “Break down the silos. Talk to one another. This encourages collaboration among the different agencies, supports better decision making, boosts productivity and fosters innovation. It can move things forward and collect valuable data.”

The data collection theme continued with the next presenter, Caroline Bragdon of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. For “Rat Reservoirs: Using Data to Predict Hot Spots and Target Resources,” Bragdon noted that “citizen complaints can lead you to individual problems, but indexing shows neighborhood data. We do regular inspections in ‘rat reservoir areas’ and their conducive conditions.” New York City uses the 311 hotline for residents to report rodent sightings, and overlays that data with known hot spots to see whether the area is increasing or if it’s a “new” reservoir thanks to new construction or other disruption to the area. In broad terms, she said, the hottest of the hot spots include:

1. Parks and vacant land top the list, thanks to the rodent harborage areas afforded by ground cover, shrubbery, etc.
2. Multifamily dwellings are three times more likely to have rodent complaints than single- or double-family homes, underscoring the fact that where there are more people, there is increased rodent risk.
3. Properties within 100 feet of a school, rail line or restaurant rank highly. They have more foot traffic, more access to food and, as Bragdon said, “A school is one giant foodservice establishment, serving up to three meals a day.”

Dr. Corrigan brings it all home

To wrap up Day One of the Summit, PMP Hall of Famer Dr. Bobby Corrigan (Class of 2008) presented “Remote Rat Sensor Technology: Public Health Canaries in the Coal Mine.” He opened his talk by relating how this National Rodent Summit event came to be, as it was sparked by an early conversation between him and Corradi within a few weeks of her being named the rat czar for the city. Dr. Corrigan noted that they agreed it was time to bring rodent experts from all over the country (and Canada!) and in different disciplines to share insights and information. Rodents are on the rise in many urban areas, and best practices need to be delineated not only for the public’s comfort, but also for their health and safety.

“These days, we humans are doubling our knowledge curve every 12 hours,” he said. “In the last century, it took us 100 years to double that curve. And with artifical intelligence, we’ll see advances that go off the charts.

“The public thinks, ‘How hard is it to do pest control? Why do they need a license? You just spray, bait or trap, and you have it covered,'” he added. “That mindset needs to change.

But the public is not to blame alone, he cautioned. “Everyone knows that too often, [integrated pest management, or] IPM has one step we tend to overlook: Monitoring. If you’re not monitoring, you’re not in fact, doing IPM.”

At the risk of “sounding like a salesman,” Dr. Corrigan teased, he pointed to the rodent monitoring benefits he sees with the rodent trap sensing systems on the market. “I’ve been working with them for 15 years. When I started with them in Israel, I realized it was a game-changer within three weeks. Out of thousands of pallets at a warehouse, suddenly I can see exactly where the rodents are.”

Sensors are no silver bullet, Dr. Corrigan says, but they can be an important tool in optimizing monitoring efforts and where to implement control options. Infrared (IR) cameras take it to the next level by showing you exactly what set the trap off, be it an alpha male Norway rat or just an oversized American cockroach. (False positives can easily be negated, he said, by the lack of droppings, sebum, hairs, etc., in the rodent stations.)

“Prevention is the anchor word for the science of public health,” Dr. Corrigan pointed out. “These new technologies can help us keep rodents from getting to first base.”