NYCFoodSnob

I witnessed this issue over the holidays while visiting Paris. I thought I might post about it sooner, but then I hesitated, knowing how the Francofile-lovers would react.

Now, it's all over the media, reminding me of the awful stuff I witnessed. Paris has a serious rodent problem. They need to so something about it.

Just one example:
Paris dustmen film swarming plague of rats as city faces up to mass rodent infestation

HappyTrvlr

I saw this video on TV too. All cities located on the water have to deal with rats but Paris has a more extreme problem. In Chicago a special rat patrol report phone nmber was posted in the alleys for residents to call in when rats were seen.
I wonder if the high water in the Seine is causing this problem to worsen?

cdnyul

Why you care about Francofile-lovers reaction ?

IMDonehere

This is not news, there have Parisians there for centuries.

Suki

We weren't upset about it, but we were out late one night in August and walked past Notre Dame and saw several rats frolicing around a trash bin. Earlier the same night we saw a few running around the right bank, but we were right on the river at that point. I feel for the trash men.

nola77382

Yikes. This makes me rethink the place I want to book on Ile San Louis because it's on the ground floor. I ignored my husband pointing out the rats last year when we walked by Notre Dame. I lalala'd him but kept stomping my feet as we walked. I'm not a fan of the rat. I even had a hard time watching Ratatouille. And fyi to the psychologist quoted, some of us don't like squirrels either.

Christina

I hate rats. I found one in my yard once, my neighbors were real trashy. I called the city about it. Mice are more a normal problem. I've had a few small mice in my house, but if I hate a rat, I'd freak out.

I would never book a ground floor apt, anyway, for security reasons and just not wanting everyone to be able to look in at me walking by. creepy Even for an apt that is in interior courtyard and only faces it (I was in such a building), everyone coming in at night and going through it to the staircase to their rooms could see you, if you had any window without real thick coverings.

it's Francophile, not file, I believe that is from the Greek philos, like bibliophile

AJPeabody

"A serious rat problem in Paris."

Of course the rats in Paris are serious. They love to debate philosophy and the relative merits of various trash sources. Many feel that the amount of garbage available at 3 star places is tasty but too little quantity, for instance.

ribeirasacra

xcountry

Those are by far the world’s most beautiful rats.

MmePerdu

The first urban rat I saw was in Paris, in 1966 in the headlights of my car one night. I remember it fondly. But then I had a pet rat, Oscar, as a child so that may account for it.

NYCFoodSnob

Of course it is. Their spellcheck sucks. I thought this new place had an edit feature? Please don't tell me it's on a timer. If so, how stupid, juvenile, and controlling.

Macross

Egads, but NYC has a huge problem also. BTW, I do hospice care and one of my clients lives on the 6th floor of a very swanky oceanside apartment. The garbage shoot was out of business and if you had anything to dispose you took to the parking lot. They were cleaning out the bins where the shoot drops the garbage and the guy doing it was marking off how many dead rats had been killed the last three days. Over 300! I can only imagine the restaurant garbage beachside. Last Paris trip there was a garbage strike and between the flying rats and ground rats it was gross. I would not walk on the sidewalks. Ground floor or five floors up doesn't stop these critters. I am taking plastic zip locks for any leftover pastry or food we keep in the apartment. My freind was just there and said they were everywhere by the Eiffel tower. I hate them.

Sassafrass

They need some cats.

NewbE

As a human being, you are never more than 10 feet away from a rat. The planet can't be sanitized to your liking.

Macross

Sass, cats and some snakes. We never kill snakes here in Fl.

StCirq

This isn't anything new. I remember posting 4-5 years ago, warning people about having picnics on the Champ du Mars because the rats were so rampant and bold one summer they were stealing people's picnics from under their noses.It's a big city. All big cities have rats. It may be worse because of the inondations of late. When I lived in Dupont Circle, a nice neighborhood in DC, there were swarms of rats every night in the alleyways behind our house. I agree, they are gross, but every city has them. You can do your very small part by not littering, but it won't make much of a dent, I'm afraid.

kerouac

Don't forget the Ratatouille ride at Disneyland Paris.

Frankly, the current increase of rats is caused by the flooding of the Seine and numerous construction projects.

In my own street, I have to deal with mice from time to time due to various demolitions, but the mice do not come in from ground level. They scamper along the roofs and get into my apartment through the attic room. I have discovered that peanut butter is absolutely the best thing to put into mousetraps (suggested by a friend from New Orleans). I used to use grilled lardons, which are also good, but peanut butter is better.

quokka

Show me a city without rats.

travelgourmet

I believe any city in Alberta qualifies.