Are rats really pests?

Whether they are called brown rats, brown rats or even "Rattus norvegicus", rats often have a bad reputation, but is this really justified?

In this first issue of

we question the notion of "harmful" and the methods of deratization used in France by comparing the "arguments for" and the "arguments against".

It's all in the video at the top of this article!

In Paris, Geoffroy Boulard, mayor of the 17th arrondissement, became known for his fight against rodents.

In 2018, he launched a participatory site "report a rat" and coordinates a citizen rat control brigade in his district.

According to him, it is a question of public health, “the rat is a vector of disease.

On the surface, it cannot be allowed to proliferate near dwellings”.

He does not believe in cohabitation with animals and denounces certain "militant and extremist" associations.

On these points, Amandine Sanvisens, co-founder of the Paris Zoopolis (PAZ) association, disagrees with the elected official.

The purpose of the term pest, she says, is to take away the right to live for animals.

“They are sentient beings who live, like us humans.

So yes, they reproduce and build burrows”, thus campaigning for a policy based on the animal condition and not on public health or cleanliness.

Massive contraception of rats?

To fight against the proliferation of rats, French communities use, among other things, chemical poisoning, drowning or mechanical traps.

Geoffroy Boulard is also testing a new method, inspired by his meeting in 2018 with the mayor of New York, dry ice. 

Used in burrows located on the surface, it causes slow asphyxiation of rodents.

If for the chosen one this technique is neither "cruel" nor "violent", Amandine Sanvisens affirms that it causes intense stress in the rat and that the method is "similar to drowning".

To take into account the animal condition, the PAZ association calls for the cessation of lethal methods and proposes to test massive contraception for rodents.

Already used by several states, in the United States, contraception is oral and continuous.

“We would thus attack the root of the problem by limiting the fertility of rats and it is ethical since there is no suffering”.

For the mayor of the 17th, it is necessary to use "all the techniques" available to limit the presence of rats in public space in the city.

On the other hand, contraception as the only method “will not suffice”.

So can we cohabit or not with rats in the city?

Should we kill them or test contraception?

Give us your opinion in the comments.

And if you have questions about other social issues concerning animals, do not hesitate to let us know as well.

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The rat in the sleeve scene was not shot in Paris

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Puy-de-Dôme: The proliferation of rats worries the inhabitants of Clermont-Ferrand

• Planet

• Animals

• Rats

• Paris

• Ile-de-France

• 20 minute video