SUN INVESTIGATES Rats not more common in city

Despite viral videos, complaints have been declining for two years

When rats recently scampered through two public markets and a convenience store like shoppers browsing for green beans, it confirmed that no part of Baltimore is immune from rodents.

But the rats-capades caught on video and viewed more than 500,000 times on social media come amid a declining number of complaints about vermin lodged across the city since 2016.

Since nearly everyone nowadays carries a smart phone with built-in video camera, the resulting viral videos bring more eyes to the rodent wars that Baltimore and other cities have waged for decades, officials said.

Residents and visitors, they said, shouldn’t fear that rodents have overrun restaurants, markets and stores.

“Cameras are everywhere,” Department of Public Works spokesman Kurt Kocher said.

“This is nothing new. People can send in complaints with the videos. It makes it easier on everybody.”

A video recorded last week from outside a 7-Eleven store on Washington Boulevard and West Patapsco Avenue showed a rat skipping across Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Sunkist bottles before it tried climbing up a wall.

Earlier this month, shoppers recorded rodents scurrying over cookie trays in the case of a bakery stall at Lexington Market and through an aisle at the Northeast Market.

City leaders closed the markets to try to eradicate the rodents.

Mona Rock, a Health Department spokeswoman, said there has not been an uptick in rat-infestation violations at city restaurants.

City records show rodent complaints have dropped since fiscal year 2016.

The complaints fell from 8,933 in the 12 months prior to June 30, 2016, to 5,296 in the year before June 30, 2018. At the same time, proactive inspections rose from 105,931 to 171,715 in those same periods, records show.

For the inspections, city workers look under trash, debris and branch piles and near buildings where rats could burrow inside and later nest.

Once locations are identified, workers leave rat poison and place yellow flags to alert residents. Workers then re-check the location to make sure rats have been exterminated.

Kocher stressed that city workers inspect only external spots, not inside buildings. That responsibility falls to the owners, he added.

“Don’t put food scraps outside,” he said. “Don’t feed the birds bread scraps. If you see a rat, call us.”

Baltimore Sun reporter Nicholas BogelBurroughs contributed to this article. — Mark Puente