October 22, 2016
Yikes – Philadelphia has earned a not-so-favorable ranking on one list that looks at the rattiest cities in America.
Orkin, an Atlanta-based pest control company, rolled out the Top 50 cities with the biggest rat problem after looking at the number of rodent treatments the company performed in the cities between October 2015 to Sept. 30.
So where did Philadelphia fall? Orkin put Philadelphia as the seventh-most rattiest city in the list published Monday.
Here's the top 10:
1. Chicago
2. New York
3. Washington D.C.
4. Los Angeles
5. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
6. Baltimore
7. Philadelphia
8. Minneapolis-St. Paul
9. Detroit
10. Denver
Grossed out yet? Orkin said that fall is the start of rodent season – as temperatures drop, the pesky creatures come out of the woodwork looking for food, water and a place to call home.
The company also said that 40 percent of people have had rodents in their houses at some point.
Philadelphia's Vector Control program works to take care of unwanted creatures like rats. They've even got a rat complaint hotline where homeowners can call 215-685-9000 to get some assistance removing the rodents.
Officials at the city's Vector Control Services call rats "some of the most troublesome and damaging rodents" in the country because of their rapidly growing populations and ability to easily carry disease and get into buildings.
Vector Control Services recommends homeowners rat-proof their food by keeping leftovers out off of counters and in containers, to seal openings around the house and to use poison baits.
Though, rats might not really be the biggest concern in Philadelphia despite the adverse ranking. A 2013 American Housing Survey – the most recent data available – showed that only .7 percent of Philadelphians reported rats in their homes while 8.3 percent reported cockroaches. Most alarmingly, about 20 percent of those surveyed reported seeing mice.
