这些城市有严重的老鼠问题，但有一件事可以背锅

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

这些城市有严重的老鼠问题，但有一件事可以背锅

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

一只金毛猎犬在多伦多的Trinity Bellwoods公园调查一只大老鼠。

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.

俗话说，在大城市，你与老鼠的距离永远不会超过 6 英尺。这是一个都市神话，但科学家们正警告说，全球各地的城市正变得越来越糟糕，而这种（阴沟里的）繁荣主要是由一个因素推动的：气候变化。

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.

里士满大学（University of Richmond）的生物学教授乔纳森·理查森（Jonathan Richardson）在看到媒体报道老鼠接管城市后，决定研究城市老鼠的（变化）趋势。他告诉 CNN，这些报道往往聚焦在单一地点，并且“通常缺少大量的硬/客观数据”。

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.

他和他的团队决定改变这种状况。他们请求美国 200 个人口最多的城市提供老鼠统计数据，但发现只有 13 个城市拥有他们需要的高质量的长期数据。为了提供更广泛的地理范围，研究人员还包括了三个国际城市：多伦多、东京和阿姆斯特丹。

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

收集的数据平均跨越 12 年，包括老鼠的目击、诱捕和检查报告。

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.

根据他们周五发表在Science Advances杂志上的研究，显示了16个城市中的11个的老鼠数量“增加趋势显著”。华盛顿特区、旧金山、多伦多、纽约市和阿姆斯特丹的增长幅度最大。只有三个城市出现下降：新奥尔良、路易斯维尔和东京。

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.

该研究将大鼠的增加与几个因素联系起来，包括高种群密度和低城市植被数量，但主要影响是温暖的平均温度。

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.

老鼠是小型哺乳动物，受到寒冷/低温的限制，理查森说。更温暖的温度，尤其是在冬天，让它们有更长的时间在户外觅食，而且至关重要的是，一年内更长的繁殖时间。

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.

一位并未参与这项研究的城市野外生态学家和野生老鼠专家迈克尔·帕森斯（Michael Parsons）表示，温暖的气候还可以延长生长/成长季节，为老鼠提供更多的食物和可以躲藏的植被。“在温暖的天气里，实际上食物和垃圾的气味也可以传播得更远，”他告诉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.

迅速增长的老鼠数量是城市面临的一个大问题。老鼠会破坏基础设施，污染食物，并通过啃断电线来引发火灾。根据该报告，它们每年在美国造成约 270 亿美元的损失。

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.

它们也对健康构成危害。康奈尔大学（Cornell University）的害虫专家马特·弗莱（Matt Frye）说，“老鼠与50多种影响人类的病原体有关”，它们通过尿液、排泄物、唾液巢、（接触过的）物质和寄生虫传播这些病原体。

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.

其中一些可以很严重，例如钩端螺旋体病，也称为伟伊（Weil）病，如果得不到治疗，它会导致肾脏和肝脏损伤，甚至死亡。

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

理查森说，还有越来越多的证据表明，老鼠对生活在它们周围的人有“巨大的心理健康影响”。

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.

即使在研究中被认为是最糟糕的城市里，华盛顿特区还是脱颖而出/引人注目。它的老鼠数量增长是纽约市的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.

在华盛顿特区，老鼠问题的一个透露的迹象是（那里的）硬塑料垃圾桶被咬穿了一个洞。“防止垃圾桶（被）啮齿动物（咬）的唯一方法是不要在里面放食物，”负责该市啮齿动物控制项目的杰拉德·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.

去年是华盛顿特区有记录以来最热的一年——这对于试图控制老鼠来说是个坏消息。布朗希望12月和1月的气温骤降/短期降温将有助于控制该种群。“寒冷起到了天然灭鼠药（的作用），”他说。

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员几年前曾尝试过一个老鼠控制生育试点项目，但在结果不确定后放弃了。（因为）老鼠必须每天服用一种液体避孕药，这是一项无法保证的任务。

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，一只棕色老鼠在华盛顿特区联合车站广场的垃圾中爬行。

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

布朗说，华盛顿特区的数字会如此之高，是因为该市鼓励居民每次看到老鼠时都打电话（告诉当局）。

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.

野外生态学家帕森斯说，关于老鼠的公共报告非常有用，但可能有瑕疵。他说，人们通常只在看到“不寻常”的情况时才会打电话，而不是在任何特定区域有老鼠时打电话。

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

帕森斯补充说，要确定准确的城市老鼠数量非常困难。“老鼠很小，很神秘，通常在夜间活动。”

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.

理查森说，一些城市的老鼠数量众多并不是对当局处理问题的控诉/不满，但减少老鼠无力/困难往往是因为资金不足。

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.

他说，可以向该研究中的三个减少了老鼠数量的城市学习。他将这些城市的成功归功于告知居民如何避免吸引老鼠，以及利用城市现有的资源提供帮助。

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.

理查森还鼓励当局放弃灭杀控制，“因为它只是对已经存在那里的侵扰做出反应”，以及更多地思考如何拿走老鼠赖以生存的东西，例如食物浪费、垃圾获得和杂物堆。

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.”

理查森说，这些发现为老鼠在变暖的世界（全球变暖）中可能带来的挑战敲响了警钟。“如果你不处理这个问题，情况只会变得更糟。你不会想像西西弗斯一样把那块巨石推上山。

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.”

至于华盛顿特区，布朗表示，他对该市控制老鼠的斗争持乐观态度。“世界上没有人认为我们会完全摆脱老鼠，但我们可以将它们减少到可控的水平，”他说。“目标是控制和减少。”