Local News
Over the past two years, Boston has made a deliberate pivot away from dangerous rodenticides towards a more proactive approach of controlling rat populations.
Rats have long been a problem in Boston, but officials are now positioning the city as a national leader in pest control. Danielle Parhizkaran/Boston Globe
Boston is set to host the second-ever National Urban Rat Summit this fall, Mayor Michelle Wu announced Thursday.
The summit, scheduled for Sept. 23 and 24, will convene experts, researchers, public health leaders and others from around the country. The first national summit was hosted by New York City in 2024, the same year the Wu administration unveiled its Boston Rodent Action Plan.
That plan, which brings together multiple city departments to better coordinate the administration’s pest control response, will be highlighted by city officials at the summit.
“We look forward to bringing cities together to burrow under barriers, gnaw through nagging issues, and scurry toward solutions for the highest quality of life for our human residents,” Wu said in a statement.
The action plan emphasized integrated pest management practices. This framework emphasizes first addressing the environmental root causes of rodent issues, like garbage management, before outright extermination.
By implementing the action plan, the city has reduced its reliance on traditional rodenticides, piloted new technologies like sewer traps, installed rodent-resistance trash receptacles, and advanced public education on how to dispose of waste, officials said. The administration also credits the action plan for bringing together multiple departments in quarterly meetings, improving inspection and enforcement, and advancing the use of data and analytics in tracking pest management outcomes.
Earlier this year, the administration accepted applications from other cities and academic researchers to submit proposals and presentations for the summit.
“Significant advances have been made in both the science and the practice of controlling rats in modern cities over the past several years,” Bobby Corrigan, one of the country’s leading urban rodentologists, said in a statement. “The goal of the summit is to bring the perspectives of national and international minds to share collective findings, new technologies, and innovations in city operations that promises collaborative cutting-edge updates towards the centuries-old challenge of controlling urban rats.”
Corrigan authored a 51-page report in 2024 that examined the city’s rat problem and the best ways to combat it in advance of the launch of the action plan. He advocated for a more proactive approach to pest control that now drives the administration’s strategy.
Rodent control has taken on new salience since then due to the news that Boston’s rats are carrying and spreading leptospirosis. The disease, which spreads through the urine of infected animals, can cause a range of symptoms like fever, vomiting, and stomach pain. If left untreated, it can lead to kidney damage, meningitis, and liver failure.
The new data on leptospirosis came from a six-year study by Tufts University researchers and other collaborators. By tracking rats in Boston from 2016 to 2022, they found that different strains of the leptospirosis bacteria travel around the city as distinct groups of rats migrate. While human exposure to rats is not very common, researchers noted that homeless people could be at greater risk.
To kill rats, licensed pest control companies regularly deploy a certain type of rodenticide known to harm other wildlife and pets. After multiple well-known bald eagles died in recent years, grassroots energy has been steadily building towards a potential ban on these poisons, which already cannot be sold directly to consumers.
Boston no longer relies on these rodenticides, Assistant Commissioner Of Environmental Services John Ulrich said at a City Council hearing earlier this year. Preventation, sanitation, trapping, and the use of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide machines are utilized instead.
“Rodent activity is a challenge that extends beyond city boundaries, making collaboration and the sharing of proven strategies essential,” Ulrich said in a recent statement.
Ross Cristantiello
Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.
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