Ben, the two of us need look no more

Mount Pleasant has a rat problem that apparently has become the subject of local newscasts (regarding other neighborhoods, anyway).   It's a growing health hazard in a city where waste management is so awful that the vermin have an unlimited supply of trash to feed on.  This is because the city's official trash receptacles are horribly cheap, easily invaded by determined rats in alleyways.  The two straight mild winters haven't helped, either. 

Worse, the trash collectors often abuse them, breaking off the covers and running them over.  Since replacement cans cost $62.50 (ridiculous for what you get), people keep re-using the old and busted ones even when they have no lids.  Thus, rat feast.  It's gotten to the point where you see them running around in your yard, and in broad daylight.  Now, they don't scurry when something bigger comes their way. 

My landlords called an exterminator who has laid poison and traps in our yard and in the alley next to our house.  They have caught 4 so far, but none of it does any good without everyone making an effort -- and without actual closing, functional trash receptacles.  There is far more trash being put out than there are cans available -- and as long as this condition remains in my neighborhood and others, the rats will be impossible to get rid of. 

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