June 20, 2025 • 38 mins
According to a recent study by Tufts University researchers at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, rats in Boston are spreading a potentially deadly disease known as leptospirosis. The disease-causing bacteria can infect humans and animals with symptoms in humans ranging from mild and flu-like, such as an upset stomach, to more severe, in rare cases resulting in organ failure and death. We discussed how humans can contract the disease and treat it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WVZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Okay, we're heading into the nine o'clock hour. Al Griffith,
thank you very much. There would be an interesting story
tomorrow in the Boston Globe by Emily Spatz, who's a
Globe correspondent. This was released today early this morning by
the Globe. So it wasn't in I do not believe
it was in any of the print editions today. Rats
in Boston are spreading a potentially deadly disease. Research says, look,
(00:32):
no one, no one likes rats, okay of any sort,
But apparently apparently there's a potential deadly disease that normally
is associated with tropical areas. This is from a study
by Tufts University researchers. Now, the disease is known as leptospirosis.
(00:56):
According to the Globe story, it's it's commonality or whatever.
It will likely increase with climate change, meaning that it
comes from warmer climes, but even to areas here. So
this is a six year study that found most rat
(01:20):
populations in Boston carried this disease, causing bacteria. The researchers
apparently found that distinct rodent populations across the city Boston
carry different variations of the bacteria that can be spread
(01:40):
between the rat colonies. This is pretty scary stuff because
this disease, lepto spirosis, can affect you and me, It
can affect your pets. This is tough. Symptoms change mild
(02:01):
and flu like from let's say an upset stomach to
more severe and in rare cases, but in some cases
resulting in multi organ failure and death. Now, as the
article goes on to explain, this disease causing bacteria which
(02:22):
is carried by the rats thrive in warm, moist environments,
think of the Caribbean, and they're spread. The bacteria is
spread through the urine of the infected animals, which then,
needless to say, can contaminate water and soil found worldwide.
(02:43):
But according to the Globe story, temperatures rise due to
climate change. As temperatures rise due to climate change, this
becoming increasingly common in cooler areas, including the Northeast, said
Marie k Rosenbaum, co senior author of the study's an
assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Disease and Global
Health at the Coming School of Veterinary medicine at toughs universities.
(03:09):
Humans can contract this disease. And you know, it's funny
when you talk about something like this that hasn't happened.
It's like talking about COVID nineteen. In December of twenty nineteen.
It was on the radar of some people. There were
people who were dying in China, large groups of people.
(03:33):
There was satellite photos photos of Chinese cities where there
were body bags lined up and I don't know, but
maybe we're asleep, Maybe it's the holidays. No one knew
about COVID until it really started to hit, and it
hit hard here in Boston. So this is the sort
(03:54):
of thing that we got to be concerned about. This
researcher Mari k Rosenbaum said, it's hard to say how
many people have been infected with the disease in Boston,
as many they'll get tested because they're asymptomatic or only
receive a diagnosis if their illness is severe. But the
study did track one human case from twenty eighteen, and
(04:17):
the city had found that is likely originating from a rat.
The patients was hospitalized ultimately did recover. So this paper
is part of a project out of tuff, stubbed the
Boston Urban Rat Study, which focuses in the role Rodent's
play here in Boston. Now, this, this is a problem, okay.
(04:39):
And I can tell you that although I don't live
in Boston, I have lived in Boston, and rats are
not uncommon in Boston. And I'm not talking about elected
political officials here. I'm talking about the four legged kind
that you find that you see on city streets, in
neighborhoods and probably every part of Boston. A lot of
(05:05):
that is because of our own laziness. We don't want
to put trash in dumpsters. We just want to put
it in like the plastic bags in the alley or wherever.
And rats they're smart, they're survivors. You know. They say
after nuclear war, the only things that will survive will
be rats and cockroaches. So what I'm hoping to do
(05:28):
is I'd like to get sort of informal survey tonight
from people not only in Boston but elsewhere. I mean,
I'm assuming that in suburban areas there are rats as well.
Certainly there're a mice, but the mice have a better
reputation than rats. I mean, given a choice between having
(05:51):
a mouse in your cellar and a rat in your cellar,
I think most of us will take a mouse. Maybe
it's because of Mickey Mouse and Minie Mouse, and we
think they're a little cuter than rats. But rats, they
you can go back to the to the to the
Middle Middle Ages bubonic plague. It was carried by rats.
I mean they've been everywhere. We're a port city. We
(06:13):
have a lot of waterfront in Boston. I'm not blaming
anyone in Boston. I think we all have a little
bit of responsibility here. If you have if you ever
drive down any of the alleyways between Commab and Newberry
Street or over and between Beacon Street and Marlborough Street,
(06:36):
you have these alleyways and they're just full of dumpsters
that are improperly locked. If they're locked at all, they're overflowing.
And that is basing an invitation to rats. Hey have that?
Have that, folks, It's as simple as that, and they
(06:56):
I can't think of a more disgusting animal to have
in my neighborhood. Oh what I would like to find
out is what neighborhoods in Boston have we seen rats?
And if you live in Brighton, Alston, Rossendale, West Roxbury, Mattapenn, Dorchester, Roxbury,
South End, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, West End, the
(07:17):
Old West End, East Boston, North End. I would be
willing to bet that every person who's listening to this
program and living in one of those neighborhoods and I
didn't hit them all, Jamaica. Plain. There's a few more
that we could have mentioned. You've seen rats. That is
not a good sign. You're going to read this article
in the Globe tomorrow and you're going to be disgusted.
(07:39):
There's a statistic here that says a study in the
journal Science shows that the rat population in Boston increased
by fifty three percent between twenty eleven and twenty twenty one. Now,
that's attributed to warming temperatures in the article. However, However,
(08:00):
I think that the warming ten temperatures are not the
primary problem. Okay, the primary problem are people like you
and me who don't want to make sure that our
trash goes in a container tied up so it's not
spilling all over the place, and it's inside either an
(08:22):
iron a dumpster which the rats can't get into, or
in some sort of a blue or a green plastic
barrel with the rats cannot tip over as simple as that.
So going to open up the phone lines we talk
about this for an hour. Coming up at ten o'clock tonight,
(08:43):
we're going to talk with a very interesting guest, someone
who's a friend of mine and he is a researcher
for amongst other things, a very smart guy. His name
is Tatsukita. We've had him on before. He is an
investigative journalist and analyst, and he believes that Israel has
(09:03):
taken on a fight that they might not be able
to win. You know how I feel about Israel. When
I read this, I was not happy to read it,
because he does great analytics, and he is giving us
not what he would like to see happen, but what
he thinks might see happen. But first, we're going to
(09:26):
spend another forty two minutes talking about rats. And I
think that everybody should be listening. I suspect most of
my listeners are people who are responsible disposers of their refuge.
But take a look around next time you walk down
the street. See how many pizza boxes, how many pizza
(09:47):
slices are on the ground. Who's picking those up? It's
the rats. It's as simple as that. Six one seven, two, five,
four ten thirty and six one seven, nine three one
ten thirty. Coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Night Side five with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
In the article in the Globe tomorrow, there is a
photograph which I guess is from the Alston Christmas. It's trash,
just trash strewn in front of five Ashford Street during
the Allston Annual Christmas in twenty twenty three. Allston Christmas
(10:27):
comes like in late August when people are moving out
of apartments. And what really bothers me is that people
families live in Allston, in Brighton and these people who
have rented students or whatever, and they're just leaving town
and they're leaving their trash behind. Let's go to the phones.
(10:50):
Let me go to Steve and Cambridge. I know Steve
has seen rats and Cambridge. Steve, how are you?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Dan?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
I was better before I heard you giving this story,
but I'm still okay, good damn. One thing I wanted
to say, because you know I'm a skeptic, is that
I think if you're in the profession of science, yes,
if you want to get published or funded our media attention.
(11:20):
It's always a good idea to link whatever it is
to climate change.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Oh, absolutely, and I understand that. But I think that
this is an article that will be in the Globe
tomorrow and I read it. I thought it's well well presented,
and I want to talk about it. How much you
live in Cambridge? Yes, do you see rats and Cambridge
and leave the politicians.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Out of the Okay, Well, I was in a very
popular restaurant in Cambridge, a bar restaurant, and I think
I was in there by myself, in the middle of
the restaurant. I'm not going to give you the name.
And I looked down at the floor and this is
It was a busy night, you know, and there was
(12:05):
this rat looking right in my face. Oh he was
staring at me, but he didn't seem to be paying
attention to anybody else in the restaurant, just me. Wow,
it was spooky, Dan. And the other night I was
down I went to.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I would have jumped up and screamed or something. I mean,
not that I'm scared, but I mean that is a frightening.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, Dan, it happens if you live in the city.
And I was down at the Tremont Theater the other day.
I can't remember the name of you. Do you know
the big movie theater that's right on Tremont Street near
the corner.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Book right by the Boston Commons.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Sure, And I was standing, I was sitting in the
common waiting for a friend, and a rat ran over
my foot. Dan, I'm not freaked out by rats. I
don't like him. But but what concerns me, I think,
is the number of these black boxes that contain rat
(13:04):
poison that you see absolutely everywhere. Sure, yeah, And I
mean I wonder if it's going to lose its effectivity.
I wonder if there are some people concerned about its
ecological problems. I mean, if these black boxes worked, I
don't suppose we'd have that many rats. What do you
think about that?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I think they'd be better if they put birth control
pills around. And I'm serious when I say I'm not joking,
but I would think that that just these rats, they
just overpopulate, and once you get two or six or
eight or ten, unless you do something about the population.
I know that they do it with in certain like
(13:45):
with deer and certain you know species that have overpopulated areas.
Pretty simple. I just think. You know, the rats are
going to do what rats do, and we can't stop that,
but we can we can certainly diminish the number of
offspring they might produce in any given year.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Well, Dan, you know, you're right, I mean, you know,
but you unfortunately you know what human nature is and
people are. It's very hard to get people to dispose
of garbage or recyclables or anything in a neat and
proper way.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I have two green barrels and a blue barrel. Okay,
it takes a little effort, But I don't want rats.
I mean, I don't want anything. And I'm look, if
you see this picture of the globe tomorrow, no, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Well, it's a good it's a good thing. The globe is,
You're in it.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And if they want to put a climate change spin
on it, that's fine. But when, when and how they
judge this, I don't know. They do have a statistic
here that says the rat population. According to a study
published in the journal Science, the rat population in Boston
increased by fifty three percent between twenty eleven and twenty
twenty one. That's a big jump.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
That's I mean, I think between twenty twenty one. I mean,
I think COVID may have had something to do with that.
I mean they did say with all the restaurants shutting down,
and uh, I think that that had something. And of
course we've had an awful lot of construction too.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, but with the rat with the restaurants shutting down,
there would be less refuge coming out of the restaurants.
And I think the restaurants, Yeah, I think a lot
of people they drive down the back alleys, they open
up the dumpster. They don't close the dumpster problem. They're
too cheap to have trash pickup, or they're too lazy
to drive it somewhere, so they throw it in a
(15:34):
dumpster and enough, it spills, it misses, it spills, and uh, Steve,
I don't know, I don't know. I'm sure that every
part of the country has some form of problems. But
we got a rat problem in Boston.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And the same as does New York.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
Of course, the.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
City hasn't addressed it. Okay, simple as that, simple as that,
and it's gonna get worse.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Hope, take care.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
That's great weekend.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Okay, you to let me go from Steven Camber. Let's
go across country. To Lola in San Diego. Lola, got
any rats in San Diego?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Hi?
Speaker 7 (16:08):
Dan, I'm not in San Diego now, I'm in Watertown.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
All right. Welcome home, welcome.
Speaker 7 (16:13):
Home, thank you. So Watertown, right outside my mother's house
under the lamp post is a rat trap.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Now who put that there?
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Is?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That put there by the town?
Speaker 7 (16:25):
The time city. It's not a town anymore, Water of Watertown.
But I want you to remember Jack what's his name,
hack Gene Hackman, him and his wife.
Speaker 8 (16:38):
That's what they died of.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
That's a great happen Yes, yes, yes, that's a great point.
They and they were living in New Mexico.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
Yeah, in the desert where so that it gets dry,
the urine gets dry and turns to dust and then
it blows around.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
But here's my question. Why would there be so many
rats in New Mexico. I would think that that is
that's a rural cut, you know, state, and.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
That well, they must have had trash. That the house
that they were living in was not there, they rented it.
So maybe they were leaving trash around and the rats came.
Rats were everywhere, I guess so.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But what I'm saying is, I'm just thinking that if
if they were living in Cambridge or San Diego. Okay,
but they're living somewhere and it looked like a nice area.
I don't know whether or not, you know, Hackman had
lost his sense of his sense of living or whatever.
But married, they were, you know, a couple, the older couple.
(17:41):
Did no one check on them?
Speaker 7 (17:42):
I mean, yeah, no from what from what I read
that the kids were estranged. He married a woman. I
think she was sixty five when she died. He was
ninety five. I don't know, but it was from that mouse,
the mouse rat dropping.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, what a way to go, What a way to.
Speaker 7 (18:01):
What a way to go if you're gonna go go,
go go big?
Speaker 8 (18:04):
You know, not from rat to hop.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
People, well exactly, I mean, you know, you you think
about all the different I had a friend of mine
who a few days ago passed out literally while he
was waiting to have dinner. And he was gone. His
wife said he was gone in an instance, and of
course the shock was was extraordinary. But when it's time,
(18:27):
it's time, and when the big guy upstairs blows the
whistle and says, you know you're done. But compared of
Gene Hackman and his wife and what a you know
what a wonderful actor and how many ye were entertained
by him over the years. Just ignominious, that's for sure.
Well welcome, definitely welcome back home. Say how do you
(18:49):
mom for us?
Speaker 7 (18:49):
Okay, I will, I will. She's in assisted living and
she's running the show up there.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Okay, well the daughter, the apple doesn't fall far from
the tree, Lola.
Speaker 7 (18:59):
If you know dance, I know, but Dan, this is like,
it's just unfathomable. And I walk in the house and
now I'm gonna I started throwing stuff that I can
in the refrigerator, in the cupboards of old medicine. I've
only I got off the plane at five thirty. I've
started my cask.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So you know what, get get a good night's sleep.
You're well, you're on California time, but get a good night. Yeah,
and start with it. And again, your mom took good
care of you when you were young. I guess the
tables have turned a little bit.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
But the tables have turned. But boy, you know, when
you're twenty having a child, it's different than when you're
seventy four and trying to you know, liquid gate, I get.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It, I get it. Thanks love talk soon.
Speaker 8 (19:46):
Okay, Dan, Yes, talk soon.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Thing here comes the news at the bottom of the hour.
I got one line at six one seven, two, five four,
ten thirty and I got one line at six one
seven nine. We will we have a yes coming joining
us at ten o'clock. So, if you want to get
in on this, have you seen rats in your neighborhood?
Have you complained about this to anyone? Has anyone actually
(20:11):
responded in kind? Or did your play did your complaints
fall on deaf ears? And tell us this is a
great opportunity. If you called state Representative so and so,
or state Senator so and so, or city council or
so and so, and you've got no action, this is
an opportunity to tell that story. We're coming back on
nights Side. Got a couple of lines open, give us
(20:33):
a call.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Back to the phones we go, Thank you, Madison. Let
me go next to Mark, who's in Boston. Hey? Mark,
you were in I think rat Central. How are you Mark? Hi?
How are you? I'm doing just great? What's your experience
with rats in Boston?
Speaker 6 (20:57):
Well, you're mentioning a couple of things. First, of all,
you said that they can't get in dumpsters, but the
dumpsters are they're rusted out on the bottom, Okay, you
can you can see on the sides and to where
they go to the from the side of the dumpster
to the bottom of the dumpster where it goes on
the kron concrete. There's there's usually rusted out and there's
(21:18):
holes they can walk right in and you know, just
have dinner all night long. And I reported this, I've
set photos to three one one, and they said they're
going to send the citation down. But the dumpsters don't
get fixed or changed. And I guess there's no regulation
for the condition of dumpsters has to be in.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Well they should be. And look if for a dumpster
to get rusted or rotted out, it has to be
there for a while. It's like if if your car
is rusted out and your transmission falls out, obviously you
got to you got a problem there. But that's if
you have a dumpster and that dumpster has deteriorated so
that it is rusting and there's holes in the bottom,
(21:59):
they should be find I don't know what one of
those big new dumpsters cost. They probably cost. I'm guessing
a thousand dollars or something. They're probably pretty expensive, but
I think they should hit him with a ticket for
you got to rust it out dumpster, say two hundred
and fifty dollars, So you want to leave it there,
we'll write another ticket next week two hundred and fifty dollars.
They would spend one thousand dollars or whatever the going
(22:21):
rate is, quickly, quickly, in my opinion.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Well, maybe this is something the Globe could look into. Well,
I'll tell you another story the Globe.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It's a great story in the Globe. It's a great
it's it's a normal it's a good follow up story.
Because what I see is I see dumpsters that have
just too much trash in them, and so people have
walked by, opened the dumpsters, thrown their trash in, and
so you know, the dumpster's overflowing. But I didn't even
think about the looking at the bottom and seeing dumps,
(22:53):
you know, dumpster rusting away and rats going in there.
How long have you lived in Boston?
Speaker 6 (22:58):
Mark?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Too long? Are you thinking about long enough?
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Are you thinking about? Are you thinking about moving out?
Or no?
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Well I haven't found a better place to go to, so.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, I'll tell you Boston has a lot of pluses,
but there's some there's some negatives. I lived in U
in Boston for about ten years. Well, I grew up
in Hyde Park and then you know, as I got older,
I lived in downtown Boston and it was great when
I was single, and then we moved out to the suburbs.
So I haven't been back in a while. But every
time i'm down at the city seems dirtier than I
(23:34):
remember it.
Speaker 9 (23:35):
Maybe it's just it's getting it's getting very crowded. Yeah,
well that's and I want to the proposing uh tower
taller buildings. But it's like how we can't handle the
number of people in cars and traffic we have now.
So I don't know what people are thinking.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
No, I know that, and that's exacerbated by the by
the bike lades because it's it's tougher to drive in.
I stay out of Boston when I'm right what I write.
Ken To be honest with you, Mark, I appreciate you
calling before. Have you sure? Have you called me before?
Or and if you have, well, do me a favorite
call more often. I really need people. It was a
great call, about a three minute call. Perfect call.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Thank you Mom, Thanks Mark, Thanks.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Soon, say to you. Let me go to Diane in
bill Rica. Diane, what's the situation are you?
Speaker 8 (24:25):
I see I called hi Diane.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
What's the situation like up there in bill Rica?
Speaker 8 (24:30):
Well, no, it's not in Jill Rica. What blows my
mind is thirteen years ago I basically had a cleaning
business through an app call task Rabbit, and I was
blown away. On Newberry Street. I had a lot of
clients I cleaned for and they had steel wool stuffed
in like the walls and stuff, and I ain't never
sort or anything like that, and they told me it
(24:53):
was a rat problem. And that was thirteen years ago.
On Newberry Street.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Well, you walk down Newberry Street and everything looks beautiful
for the tourists walking down Newberry Street. But then if
you walk down the alleyway behind Newberry Street, it's an
entirely different world back there.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
As I'm sure you've this was like over the stores,
like apartments, over the stores that you know, like you know,
it looks so clean and everything. But like I had
about four clients on the one block and they all
told me that it's just horrible. And that was thirteen
years ago. But I agree with you with the birth
(25:32):
control thing. I really think they should start with the
birth control and get a lot of big cats or something.
There's a guy that rents out his cats to people.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Oh really, I didn't up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, is that true?
Speaker 8 (25:46):
Yeah, you know, like it was like Pennsylvania or something.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Okay, but he went.
Speaker 8 (25:51):
Yeah, but he rents out his cats for a couple
of days and you know, and people love it.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Well. The problem is, I would think that there in
Boston might be kind of tough to deal with for
some for some of the form some of the cats.
I mean, there's probably more rats than cats. But it's
gonna be well worth it. Hopefully get some big get
some big cats, maybe some you know.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
But then the worker. You know, I have seen mice,
you know, like when they dig up you know, for
pipes or whatever, book and pipes. You know, never rats
or anything you know out here, but you never.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Know, well you know they are. When you see this
article on the Globe tomorrow, I think you will realize
the overpopulation is a big problem. Simple as that, simple
as that.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
But are you off to another adventure pretty soon or no?
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (26:41):
Sunday I leave from New York. I thought I was
leaving the twenty fifth, but now I'm leaving from our Sunday.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Go for it and where what will what? We'll we'll
what in your business? Will take you to New York.
Speaker 8 (26:53):
Well, they're not telling us the artists, but it's in
Soho and it's a pop up. So I have a
couple of ideas too. I possibly think could be making
a comeback, like justin Biebs.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Oh well, you know, keep us.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
Staying with that girl, you know, Sisa in California, and
I don't know. I'm dying to know who it is.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Well, you'll be there and you'll find out.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Thanks, you'll see my pictures.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
All right, Thanks that you talk soon. Let me get
Tim and Wilburn here before we go to break. Tim
want to get you in so you don't have to
wait through the break. How are you, buddy?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
How good do I know about rats? In Boston? Tell us?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Tell us?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yeah, all right? Twenty five thirty years ago, I'm working
for this guy in Burlington. We had two dumb trucks
and a pickup. Now on Boylston Street, right this restaurant,
Oh yeah, Boylston, Boyleston, Newbury Street. I'm in the repointing
right brickwork, I see rat right, rat, holy mac. Well
(27:55):
they even like taking you as big as a house.
They're walking by me, the two or three feet away
from me. I says, look at this. I told my mother,
he goes, don't go in there. So the guy I'm
working so right, I'm the only guy that will go
to Boston and repoint the brick that deal with the rafts.
And they scared me.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Oh they look the nasty looking creatures. There's nothing cute
about a raft Okay, nothing whatsoever. And you know that
they are they carry disease. That's they have the urban
disease carriers. And this is what the Globe story we'll
explain tomorrow. And this disease caused the plague too, Yes,
they did the Black plague and Pestilen said everything like
(28:37):
that back in the thirteenth century. Yeah, fourteenth century. Yeah,
I mean, this is a problem and people better realize
that unless we get it under control, it's only going
to get worse.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
And right, and they walk them by me like we
the people that I need to smile, and they're eating
they're not paying right or anything.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, that's true, that's the way they live. Their lives.
There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
But yeah, they Danny, I know about the rat You
have the best program on the air from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Well I appreciate that, Tim, I really do you be well?
And uh you get out there and stay safe and
avoid those.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Rafts, staying away from boils and street and the rats
and the dumpsters.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Not a bad Well can you imagine this? What do
you think with that amount of rats around when next
time you go into one of those restaurants, a lot
of people are going to say, you know, how can
there be rats in this in this community? If these
people are serious about cleanliness and all that. I mean,
(29:38):
it's it's scary when you think about it, it really is.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I just never know cliness is next to godliness. Those
places are on cleanly. They got rats all over the place.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Probably not too godly either when you think about it.
Begs Tim, talk to you good night. All right, take
a quick break here. I got Susan and came it's
coming up and Rick and Merrimack. I got room for
maybe one more or two more if you doubt quickly,
we will change topics and we're going to talk with
an interesting gentleman who have had on here before, and
(30:13):
he's looking at the Israeli Iranian war with a little
bit of a different perspective. And it's not a question
of who's he rooting for, is who he feels has
the advantage and why, and he does it more statistically.
We'll be back if you'd like to call. Try right
now six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty and
(30:34):
I can try to get you in and I think
I will coming back on Night Side.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Okay, back we go. We got Susan and Cambridge. Susan,
this is an issue I think we're gonna agree on.
Go ahead, Susan.
Speaker 10 (30:51):
You know I can't believe out of all the big
news topics you've covered this week, that I'm calling in
about rats.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Well that's okay, and we got a big news drop
and coming up next hour or two, so.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
I'm interested to hear about that. I almost held off
and calling, but in any event, rats are the bane
of my existence.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Uh you're the second You're the second caller from Cambridge.
So let's yeah.
Speaker 10 (31:16):
I'm up in North Cambridge and Uh, first of all,
I just wanted to say I actually came back recently
from visiting a friend in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
just to clarify that it's I know, it feels like
a distinction without a difference. But the thing that the
disease that uh uh my wife got happens life. Yeah,
(31:40):
it's specific to mice, not to rats. And they don't
really have a big rat population in a city. What
they do have is, I mean, field mice exists everywhere
like farms, if there's hey, if there's grain, if there's anything.
So there are a lot of mice because it is
a semi rural area out there, so there's definitely field
(32:03):
mice all over the place. And if they take up
residents this disease, it has to be you can't catch
it like out of doors. You have to catch it
in if they've been like in a barn or in
a place where they've been urinating a lot and the
fumes get bad, it's from it's from the fumes of
their urine. So but yeah, it's it's mice. And and
(32:24):
you were actually correct that cats actually are not great
for rats. Rats are a bit too big for them.
They're great for mice. Yeah, you need a dog, you
need to talk for rats.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, and I'll bet you there are certain type dogs
that would be particularly effective. That's the I never thought
you would say I was right on something, su As
they're only teasing you. Susan and I often do battle
on issues here, but in this one we are. We're
joined at the hip on this one.
Speaker 10 (32:51):
But the reason, the reason they're the bane of my
existence is because it's not enough to just have like
a good garbage can, because I have had rat Like
if you get the slatest little crack or something in
a can, they will go in there and make a
huge hole. They will just eat, you know, as soon
as they get some little access point. I spent like
(33:15):
I think it was early winter, late fall last year,
I had a garbage can that had a hole in
it wasn't that big. I like triple quadruple duct taped it,
and then like three days later I go out to
put the garbage out and I see this like neat
little pile of something gray like it's and it turned
(33:39):
out they completely eaten through all of the duct tape,
like everything I did. So they're very determined. And you
know Steve's in Cambridge mentioned the black boxes well, those
contain poison, and we I know you've had people on
your show before. That's not a good idea, yeah, because
(34:01):
what it ends up doing is the rats eat it,
and then the raptors, the birds that eat the that
we want to eat, the rats eat the.
Speaker 8 (34:09):
Poisoned rats, and then they die.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
The U I heard, and I know that.
Speaker 10 (34:17):
I'm with you on again. I'm with you on the
birth control. I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Sounds great. We're okay, Susan, I got two more. I'm
gonna try to sneak in. Always great to your voice.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (34:29):
I have a good weekend, you too.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Real quickly, are going to go to Rick and Merrimack,
and I also got Nate in Northeastern Rick in Merrimac,
Go ahead, Rick.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Boston. Terry might be the name of the dog, Yes, yes, maybe. Anyways,
they're not.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
A big dog, by the way, but they're tough.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
That's right. Anyways, I mean I was a licensed plumber.
I don't have it at the moment, but anyways, we
have a spot on a code that I can't find
at this moment, and it's written there and it says
a strainer meaning a four during or a shell with
straining nothing. No hole shall be bigger than a half
an inch diameter. Meaning what they're trying to tell you
(35:11):
was they actually distort themselves and will squeeze through so
your dumpsters and all that with their little cracks and
whatnot and nothing for them to get into. So I
just thought i'd say that that kind of creep out
your audience a bit more, because they do need to
be creeped out, because there's a serious.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, yeah, you gotta be creeped out. So no, no,
they they get, they are able to get, and mice
are even worse in terms of getting through small little
little holes. But rats, Look, I would rather deal with
mice than I deal with rats. Okay, and it's got
nothing to do. Yeah, I mean, I just think rats
are disease carriers. Mice are too, probably, but I think
(35:52):
the rats are much much more proficient disease carriers. Hey, Rick,
thank you very much, great to hear your voice. Thanks
for calling. We'll talk soon, okay.
Speaker 5 (35:59):
Thanks, thank you for the time, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Thank you very much. Next up, Nate in Northeastern Nate,
you're going to wrap the hour for us. Go right ahead.
Speaker 11 (36:08):
Wonderful. Actually, I just wanted to, Uh. The collar previous
to me actually was talking about a lot of things
that I was going to say about the mice, which
I think is kind of funny.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
But well, you know what that means. Uh, that means,
that means great minds, they go right ahead.
Speaker 11 (36:30):
Uh, the Black Death was actually caused by gerbils. I
was taught when I was a kid it was rats,
you know, in school, I was taught that it was rats,
and that was the common theme. But actually when scientists
actually put their minds to it, they found out that,
in fact, it was gerbils.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
Because it's not.
Speaker 11 (36:45):
As you know, the actual stuff comes from you know,
the mice and what have you that attach themselves to
these different animals and that's what.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
Actually spreads it.
Speaker 11 (36:53):
But it was actually the spread. It spread through gerbils
and somewhat through field mice as well, because feel mice
spreed at law.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Well, you know, you might be right historically, and I
will be. I'm happy to be called.
Speaker 11 (37:05):
Just regarding the problem with rats, I'm not saying that.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Well, I get it, I get what you're saying, but
I gotta tell you I didn't hear about Gerbils until
Don Zimmer I think called some some umpire or gerbil,
or Bill Lee called Zimmer a gerbil. I think, yeah, growing,
I think that's what it was. Bill Lee referred to
Don Zimmer as a Gerbil, and yeah, I had to
(37:28):
figure what. I'd never seen a gurbil before, so whatever.
Speaker 11 (37:33):
Yeah, he was published in the proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences and everything.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Well in that case, okay, well we'll stand up in
salute on that one. Mate. Hey, thanks, I appreciate it.
It's what's amazing made is the breath of my audience,
and people who know stuff in my audience, they're amazing you.
Now you were now in that in that pantheon of callers.
Please call again, call more often. Okay, thanks, wonderful, all right,
(38:01):
thank okay, good night. Well we get back. I'm going
to be talking with a friend of mine. He and
I tend to disagree a little bit on this issue,
but we're going to talk about the Israeli Iranian War.
My guest is a tatsu Akida, and he he is
a He writes for Substack. He's an investigative journalist and analyst,
(38:22):
and he believes that Israel may be in more in
for a bigger fight than they realize. I certainly will
ask them about potential US involvement as well. So we
got lots to talk about. And then we have the
twentieth hour coming up, and I'm not sure going to
come up with them that someone made a suggestion today
to Marita. We may take B. C. Carey's suggestion, but
(38:46):
I'll explain that at eleven o'clock we're back at nightside
right after this
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WVZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Okay, we're heading into the nine o'clock hour. Al Griffith,
thank you very much. There would be an interesting story
tomorrow in the Boston Globe by Emily Spatz, who's a
Globe correspondent. This was released today early this morning by
the Globe. So it wasn't in I do not believe
it was in any of the print editions today. Rats
in Boston are spreading a potentially deadly disease. Research says, look,
(00:32):
no one, no one likes rats, okay of any sort,
But apparently apparently there's a potential deadly disease that normally
is associated with tropical areas. This is from a study
by Tufts University researchers. Now, the disease is known as leptospirosis.
(00:56):
According to the Globe story, it's it's commonality or whatever.
It will likely increase with climate change, meaning that it
comes from warmer climes, but even to areas here. So
this is a six year study that found most rat
(01:20):
populations in Boston carried this disease, causing bacteria. The researchers
apparently found that distinct rodent populations across the city Boston
carry different variations of the bacteria that can be spread
(01:40):
between the rat colonies. This is pretty scary stuff because
this disease, lepto spirosis, can affect you and me, It
can affect your pets. This is tough. Symptoms change mild
(02:01):
and flu like from let's say an upset stomach to
more severe and in rare cases, but in some cases
resulting in multi organ failure and death. Now, as the
article goes on to explain, this disease causing bacteria which
(02:22):
is carried by the rats thrive in warm, moist environments,
think of the Caribbean, and they're spread. The bacteria is
spread through the urine of the infected animals, which then,
needless to say, can contaminate water and soil found worldwide.
(02:43):
But according to the Globe story, temperatures rise due to
climate change. As temperatures rise due to climate change, this
becoming increasingly common in cooler areas, including the Northeast, said
Marie k Rosenbaum, co senior author of the study's an
assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Disease and Global
Health at the Coming School of Veterinary medicine at toughs universities.
(03:09):
Humans can contract this disease. And you know, it's funny
when you talk about something like this that hasn't happened.
It's like talking about COVID nineteen. In December of twenty nineteen.
It was on the radar of some people. There were
people who were dying in China, large groups of people.
(03:33):
There was satellite photos photos of Chinese cities where there
were body bags lined up and I don't know, but
maybe we're asleep, Maybe it's the holidays. No one knew
about COVID until it really started to hit, and it
hit hard here in Boston. So this is the sort
(03:54):
of thing that we got to be concerned about. This
researcher Mari k Rosenbaum said, it's hard to say how
many people have been infected with the disease in Boston,
as many they'll get tested because they're asymptomatic or only
receive a diagnosis if their illness is severe. But the
study did track one human case from twenty eighteen, and
(04:17):
the city had found that is likely originating from a rat.
The patients was hospitalized ultimately did recover. So this paper
is part of a project out of tuff, stubbed the
Boston Urban Rat Study, which focuses in the role Rodent's
play here in Boston. Now, this, this is a problem, okay.
(04:39):
And I can tell you that although I don't live
in Boston, I have lived in Boston, and rats are
not uncommon in Boston. And I'm not talking about elected
political officials here. I'm talking about the four legged kind
that you find that you see on city streets, in
neighborhoods and probably every part of Boston. A lot of
(05:05):
that is because of our own laziness. We don't want
to put trash in dumpsters. We just want to put
it in like the plastic bags in the alley or wherever.
And rats they're smart, they're survivors. You know. They say
after nuclear war, the only things that will survive will
be rats and cockroaches. So what I'm hoping to do
(05:28):
is I'd like to get sort of informal survey tonight
from people not only in Boston but elsewhere. I mean,
I'm assuming that in suburban areas there are rats as well.
Certainly there're a mice, but the mice have a better
reputation than rats. I mean, given a choice between having
(05:51):
a mouse in your cellar and a rat in your cellar,
I think most of us will take a mouse. Maybe
it's because of Mickey Mouse and Minie Mouse, and we
think they're a little cuter than rats. But rats, they
you can go back to the to the to the
Middle Middle Ages bubonic plague. It was carried by rats.
I mean they've been everywhere. We're a port city. We
(06:13):
have a lot of waterfront in Boston. I'm not blaming
anyone in Boston. I think we all have a little
bit of responsibility here. If you have if you ever
drive down any of the alleyways between Commab and Newberry
Street or over and between Beacon Street and Marlborough Street,
(06:36):
you have these alleyways and they're just full of dumpsters
that are improperly locked. If they're locked at all, they're overflowing.
And that is basing an invitation to rats. Hey have that?
Have that, folks, It's as simple as that, and they
(06:56):
I can't think of a more disgusting animal to have
in my neighborhood. Oh what I would like to find
out is what neighborhoods in Boston have we seen rats?
And if you live in Brighton, Alston, Rossendale, West Roxbury, Mattapenn, Dorchester, Roxbury,
South End, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, West End, the
(07:17):
Old West End, East Boston, North End. I would be
willing to bet that every person who's listening to this
program and living in one of those neighborhoods and I
didn't hit them all, Jamaica. Plain. There's a few more
that we could have mentioned. You've seen rats. That is
not a good sign. You're going to read this article
in the Globe tomorrow and you're going to be disgusted.
(07:39):
There's a statistic here that says a study in the
journal Science shows that the rat population in Boston increased
by fifty three percent between twenty eleven and twenty twenty one. Now,
that's attributed to warming temperatures in the article. However, However,
(08:00):
I think that the warming ten temperatures are not the
primary problem. Okay, the primary problem are people like you
and me who don't want to make sure that our
trash goes in a container tied up so it's not
spilling all over the place, and it's inside either an
(08:22):
iron a dumpster which the rats can't get into, or
in some sort of a blue or a green plastic
barrel with the rats cannot tip over as simple as that.
So going to open up the phone lines we talk
about this for an hour. Coming up at ten o'clock tonight,
(08:43):
we're going to talk with a very interesting guest, someone
who's a friend of mine and he is a researcher
for amongst other things, a very smart guy. His name
is Tatsukita. We've had him on before. He is an
investigative journalist and analyst, and he believes that Israel has
(09:03):
taken on a fight that they might not be able
to win. You know how I feel about Israel. When
I read this, I was not happy to read it,
because he does great analytics, and he is giving us
not what he would like to see happen, but what
he thinks might see happen. But first, we're going to
(09:26):
spend another forty two minutes talking about rats. And I
think that everybody should be listening. I suspect most of
my listeners are people who are responsible disposers of their refuge.
But take a look around next time you walk down
the street. See how many pizza boxes, how many pizza
(09:47):
slices are on the ground. Who's picking those up? It's
the rats. It's as simple as that. Six one seven, two, five,
four ten thirty and six one seven, nine three one
ten thirty. Coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Night Side five with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
In the article in the Globe tomorrow, there is a
photograph which I guess is from the Alston Christmas. It's trash,
just trash strewn in front of five Ashford Street during
the Allston Annual Christmas in twenty twenty three. Allston Christmas
(10:27):
comes like in late August when people are moving out
of apartments. And what really bothers me is that people
families live in Allston, in Brighton and these people who
have rented students or whatever, and they're just leaving town
and they're leaving their trash behind. Let's go to the phones.
(10:50):
Let me go to Steve and Cambridge. I know Steve
has seen rats and Cambridge. Steve, how are you?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Dan?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
I was better before I heard you giving this story,
but I'm still okay, good damn. One thing I wanted
to say, because you know I'm a skeptic, is that
I think if you're in the profession of science, yes,
if you want to get published or funded our media attention.
(11:20):
It's always a good idea to link whatever it is
to climate change.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Oh, absolutely, and I understand that. But I think that
this is an article that will be in the Globe
tomorrow and I read it. I thought it's well well presented,
and I want to talk about it. How much you
live in Cambridge? Yes, do you see rats and Cambridge
and leave the politicians.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Out of the Okay, Well, I was in a very
popular restaurant in Cambridge, a bar restaurant, and I think
I was in there by myself, in the middle of
the restaurant. I'm not going to give you the name.
And I looked down at the floor and this is
It was a busy night, you know, and there was
(12:05):
this rat looking right in my face. Oh he was
staring at me, but he didn't seem to be paying
attention to anybody else in the restaurant, just me. Wow,
it was spooky, Dan. And the other night I was
down I went to.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I would have jumped up and screamed or something. I mean,
not that I'm scared, but I mean that is a frightening.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, Dan, it happens if you live in the city.
And I was down at the Tremont Theater the other day.
I can't remember the name of you. Do you know
the big movie theater that's right on Tremont Street near
the corner.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Book right by the Boston Commons.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Sure, And I was standing, I was sitting in the
common waiting for a friend, and a rat ran over
my foot. Dan, I'm not freaked out by rats. I
don't like him. But but what concerns me, I think,
is the number of these black boxes that contain rat
(13:04):
poison that you see absolutely everywhere. Sure, yeah, And I
mean I wonder if it's going to lose its effectivity.
I wonder if there are some people concerned about its
ecological problems. I mean, if these black boxes worked, I
don't suppose we'd have that many rats. What do you
think about that?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I think they'd be better if they put birth control
pills around. And I'm serious when I say I'm not joking,
but I would think that that just these rats, they
just overpopulate, and once you get two or six or
eight or ten, unless you do something about the population.
I know that they do it with in certain like
(13:45):
with deer and certain you know species that have overpopulated areas.
Pretty simple. I just think. You know, the rats are
going to do what rats do, and we can't stop that,
but we can we can certainly diminish the number of
offspring they might produce in any given year.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Well, Dan, you know, you're right, I mean, you know,
but you unfortunately you know what human nature is and
people are. It's very hard to get people to dispose
of garbage or recyclables or anything in a neat and
proper way.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I have two green barrels and a blue barrel. Okay,
it takes a little effort, But I don't want rats.
I mean, I don't want anything. And I'm look, if
you see this picture of the globe tomorrow, no, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Well, it's a good it's a good thing. The globe is,
You're in it.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And if they want to put a climate change spin
on it, that's fine. But when, when and how they
judge this, I don't know. They do have a statistic
here that says the rat population. According to a study
published in the journal Science, the rat population in Boston
increased by fifty three percent between twenty eleven and twenty
twenty one. That's a big jump.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
That's I mean, I think between twenty twenty one. I mean,
I think COVID may have had something to do with that.
I mean they did say with all the restaurants shutting down,
and uh, I think that that had something. And of
course we've had an awful lot of construction too.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, but with the rat with the restaurants shutting down,
there would be less refuge coming out of the restaurants.
And I think the restaurants, Yeah, I think a lot
of people they drive down the back alleys, they open
up the dumpster. They don't close the dumpster problem. They're
too cheap to have trash pickup, or they're too lazy
to drive it somewhere, so they throw it in a
(15:34):
dumpster and enough, it spills, it misses, it spills, and uh, Steve,
I don't know, I don't know. I'm sure that every
part of the country has some form of problems. But
we got a rat problem in Boston.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And the same as does New York.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
Of course, the.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
City hasn't addressed it. Okay, simple as that, simple as that,
and it's gonna get worse.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Hope, take care.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
That's great weekend.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Okay, you to let me go from Steven Camber. Let's
go across country. To Lola in San Diego. Lola, got
any rats in San Diego?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Hi?
Speaker 7 (16:08):
Dan, I'm not in San Diego now, I'm in Watertown.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
All right. Welcome home, welcome.
Speaker 7 (16:13):
Home, thank you. So Watertown, right outside my mother's house
under the lamp post is a rat trap.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Now who put that there?
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Is?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That put there by the town?
Speaker 7 (16:25):
The time city. It's not a town anymore, Water of Watertown.
But I want you to remember Jack what's his name,
hack Gene Hackman, him and his wife.
Speaker 8 (16:38):
That's what they died of.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
That's a great happen Yes, yes, yes, that's a great point.
They and they were living in New Mexico.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
Yeah, in the desert where so that it gets dry,
the urine gets dry and turns to dust and then
it blows around.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
But here's my question. Why would there be so many
rats in New Mexico. I would think that that is
that's a rural cut, you know, state, and.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
That well, they must have had trash. That the house
that they were living in was not there, they rented it.
So maybe they were leaving trash around and the rats came.
Rats were everywhere, I guess so.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But what I'm saying is, I'm just thinking that if
if they were living in Cambridge or San Diego. Okay,
but they're living somewhere and it looked like a nice area.
I don't know whether or not, you know, Hackman had
lost his sense of his sense of living or whatever.
But married, they were, you know, a couple, the older couple.
(17:41):
Did no one check on them?
Speaker 7 (17:42):
I mean, yeah, no from what from what I read
that the kids were estranged. He married a woman. I
think she was sixty five when she died. He was
ninety five. I don't know, but it was from that mouse,
the mouse rat dropping.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, what a way to go, What a way to.
Speaker 7 (18:01):
What a way to go if you're gonna go go,
go go big?
Speaker 8 (18:04):
You know, not from rat to hop.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
People, well exactly, I mean, you know, you you think
about all the different I had a friend of mine
who a few days ago passed out literally while he
was waiting to have dinner. And he was gone. His
wife said he was gone in an instance, and of
course the shock was was extraordinary. But when it's time,
(18:27):
it's time, and when the big guy upstairs blows the
whistle and says, you know you're done. But compared of
Gene Hackman and his wife and what a you know
what a wonderful actor and how many ye were entertained
by him over the years. Just ignominious, that's for sure.
Well welcome, definitely welcome back home. Say how do you
(18:49):
mom for us?
Speaker 7 (18:49):
Okay, I will, I will. She's in assisted living and
she's running the show up there.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Okay, well the daughter, the apple doesn't fall far from
the tree, Lola.
Speaker 7 (18:59):
If you know dance, I know, but Dan, this is like,
it's just unfathomable. And I walk in the house and
now I'm gonna I started throwing stuff that I can
in the refrigerator, in the cupboards of old medicine. I've
only I got off the plane at five thirty. I've
started my cask.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So you know what, get get a good night's sleep.
You're well, you're on California time, but get a good night. Yeah,
and start with it. And again, your mom took good
care of you when you were young. I guess the
tables have turned a little bit.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
But the tables have turned. But boy, you know, when
you're twenty having a child, it's different than when you're
seventy four and trying to you know, liquid gate, I get.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It, I get it. Thanks love talk soon.
Speaker 8 (19:46):
Okay, Dan, Yes, talk soon.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Thing here comes the news at the bottom of the hour.
I got one line at six one seven, two, five four,
ten thirty and I got one line at six one
seven nine. We will we have a yes coming joining
us at ten o'clock. So, if you want to get
in on this, have you seen rats in your neighborhood?
Have you complained about this to anyone? Has anyone actually
(20:11):
responded in kind? Or did your play did your complaints
fall on deaf ears? And tell us this is a
great opportunity. If you called state Representative so and so,
or state Senator so and so, or city council or
so and so, and you've got no action, this is
an opportunity to tell that story. We're coming back on
nights Side. Got a couple of lines open, give us
(20:33):
a call.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Back to the phones we go, Thank you, Madison. Let
me go next to Mark, who's in Boston. Hey? Mark,
you were in I think rat Central. How are you Mark? Hi?
How are you? I'm doing just great? What's your experience
with rats in Boston?
Speaker 6 (20:57):
Well, you're mentioning a couple of things. First, of all,
you said that they can't get in dumpsters, but the
dumpsters are they're rusted out on the bottom, Okay, you
can you can see on the sides and to where
they go to the from the side of the dumpster
to the bottom of the dumpster where it goes on
the kron concrete. There's there's usually rusted out and there's
(21:18):
holes they can walk right in and you know, just
have dinner all night long. And I reported this, I've
set photos to three one one, and they said they're
going to send the citation down. But the dumpsters don't
get fixed or changed. And I guess there's no regulation
for the condition of dumpsters has to be in.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Well they should be. And look if for a dumpster
to get rusted or rotted out, it has to be
there for a while. It's like if if your car
is rusted out and your transmission falls out, obviously you
got to you got a problem there. But that's if
you have a dumpster and that dumpster has deteriorated so
that it is rusting and there's holes in the bottom,
(21:59):
they should be find I don't know what one of
those big new dumpsters cost. They probably cost. I'm guessing
a thousand dollars or something. They're probably pretty expensive, but
I think they should hit him with a ticket for
you got to rust it out dumpster, say two hundred
and fifty dollars, So you want to leave it there,
we'll write another ticket next week two hundred and fifty dollars.
They would spend one thousand dollars or whatever the going
(22:21):
rate is, quickly, quickly, in my opinion.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Well, maybe this is something the Globe could look into. Well,
I'll tell you another story the Globe.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It's a great story in the Globe. It's a great
it's it's a normal it's a good follow up story.
Because what I see is I see dumpsters that have
just too much trash in them, and so people have
walked by, opened the dumpsters, thrown their trash in, and
so you know, the dumpster's overflowing. But I didn't even
think about the looking at the bottom and seeing dumps,
(22:53):
you know, dumpster rusting away and rats going in there.
How long have you lived in Boston?
Speaker 6 (22:58):
Mark?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Too long? Are you thinking about long enough?
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Are you thinking about? Are you thinking about moving out?
Or no?
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Well I haven't found a better place to go to, so.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, I'll tell you Boston has a lot of pluses,
but there's some there's some negatives. I lived in U
in Boston for about ten years. Well, I grew up
in Hyde Park and then you know, as I got older,
I lived in downtown Boston and it was great when
I was single, and then we moved out to the suburbs.
So I haven't been back in a while. But every
time i'm down at the city seems dirtier than I
(23:34):
remember it.
Speaker 9 (23:35):
Maybe it's just it's getting it's getting very crowded. Yeah,
well that's and I want to the proposing uh tower
taller buildings. But it's like how we can't handle the
number of people in cars and traffic we have now.
So I don't know what people are thinking.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
No, I know that, and that's exacerbated by the by
the bike lades because it's it's tougher to drive in.
I stay out of Boston when I'm right what I write.
Ken To be honest with you, Mark, I appreciate you
calling before. Have you sure? Have you called me before?
Or and if you have, well, do me a favorite
call more often. I really need people. It was a
great call, about a three minute call. Perfect call.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Thank you Mom, Thanks Mark, Thanks.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Soon, say to you. Let me go to Diane in
bill Rica. Diane, what's the situation are you?
Speaker 8 (24:25):
I see I called hi Diane.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
What's the situation like up there in bill Rica?
Speaker 8 (24:30):
Well, no, it's not in Jill Rica. What blows my
mind is thirteen years ago I basically had a cleaning
business through an app call task Rabbit, and I was
blown away. On Newberry Street. I had a lot of
clients I cleaned for and they had steel wool stuffed
in like the walls and stuff, and I ain't never
sort or anything like that, and they told me it
(24:53):
was a rat problem. And that was thirteen years ago.
On Newberry Street.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Well, you walk down Newberry Street and everything looks beautiful
for the tourists walking down Newberry Street. But then if
you walk down the alleyway behind Newberry Street, it's an
entirely different world back there.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
As I'm sure you've this was like over the stores,
like apartments, over the stores that you know, like you know,
it looks so clean and everything. But like I had
about four clients on the one block and they all
told me that it's just horrible. And that was thirteen
years ago. But I agree with you with the birth
(25:32):
control thing. I really think they should start with the
birth control and get a lot of big cats or something.
There's a guy that rents out his cats to people.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Oh really, I didn't up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, is that true?
Speaker 8 (25:46):
Yeah, you know, like it was like Pennsylvania or something.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Okay, but he went.
Speaker 8 (25:51):
Yeah, but he rents out his cats for a couple
of days and you know, and people love it.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Well. The problem is, I would think that there in
Boston might be kind of tough to deal with for
some for some of the form some of the cats.
I mean, there's probably more rats than cats. But it's
gonna be well worth it. Hopefully get some big get
some big cats, maybe some you know.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
But then the worker. You know, I have seen mice,
you know, like when they dig up you know, for
pipes or whatever, book and pipes. You know, never rats
or anything you know out here, but you never.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Know, well you know they are. When you see this
article on the Globe tomorrow, I think you will realize
the overpopulation is a big problem. Simple as that, simple
as that.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
But are you off to another adventure pretty soon or no?
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (26:41):
Sunday I leave from New York. I thought I was
leaving the twenty fifth, but now I'm leaving from our Sunday.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Go for it and where what will what? We'll we'll
what in your business? Will take you to New York.
Speaker 8 (26:53):
Well, they're not telling us the artists, but it's in
Soho and it's a pop up. So I have a
couple of ideas too. I possibly think could be making
a comeback, like justin Biebs.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Oh well, you know, keep us.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
Staying with that girl, you know, Sisa in California, and
I don't know. I'm dying to know who it is.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Well, you'll be there and you'll find out.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Thanks, you'll see my pictures.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
All right, Thanks that you talk soon. Let me get
Tim and Wilburn here before we go to break. Tim
want to get you in so you don't have to
wait through the break. How are you, buddy?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
How good do I know about rats? In Boston? Tell us?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Tell us?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yeah, all right? Twenty five thirty years ago, I'm working
for this guy in Burlington. We had two dumb trucks
and a pickup. Now on Boylston Street, right this restaurant,
Oh yeah, Boylston, Boyleston, Newbury Street. I'm in the repointing
right brickwork, I see rat right, rat, holy mac. Well
(27:55):
they even like taking you as big as a house.
They're walking by me, the two or three feet away
from me. I says, look at this. I told my mother,
he goes, don't go in there. So the guy I'm
working so right, I'm the only guy that will go
to Boston and repoint the brick that deal with the rafts.
And they scared me.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Oh they look the nasty looking creatures. There's nothing cute
about a raft Okay, nothing whatsoever. And you know that
they are they carry disease. That's they have the urban
disease carriers. And this is what the Globe story we'll
explain tomorrow. And this disease caused the plague too, Yes,
they did the Black plague and Pestilen said everything like
(28:37):
that back in the thirteenth century. Yeah, fourteenth century. Yeah,
I mean, this is a problem and people better realize
that unless we get it under control, it's only going
to get worse.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
And right, and they walk them by me like we
the people that I need to smile, and they're eating
they're not paying right or anything.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, that's true, that's the way they live. Their lives.
There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
But yeah, they Danny, I know about the rat You
have the best program on the air from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Well I appreciate that, Tim, I really do you be well?
And uh you get out there and stay safe and
avoid those.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Rafts, staying away from boils and street and the rats
and the dumpsters.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Not a bad Well can you imagine this? What do
you think with that amount of rats around when next
time you go into one of those restaurants, a lot
of people are going to say, you know, how can
there be rats in this in this community? If these
people are serious about cleanliness and all that. I mean,
(29:38):
it's it's scary when you think about it, it really is.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I just never know cliness is next to godliness. Those
places are on cleanly. They got rats all over the place.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Probably not too godly either when you think about it.
Begs Tim, talk to you good night. All right, take
a quick break here. I got Susan and came it's
coming up and Rick and Merrimack. I got room for
maybe one more or two more if you doubt quickly,
we will change topics and we're going to talk with
an interesting gentleman who have had on here before, and
(30:13):
he's looking at the Israeli Iranian war with a little
bit of a different perspective. And it's not a question
of who's he rooting for, is who he feels has
the advantage and why, and he does it more statistically.
We'll be back if you'd like to call. Try right
now six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty and
(30:34):
I can try to get you in and I think
I will coming back on Night Side.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Okay, back we go. We got Susan and Cambridge. Susan,
this is an issue I think we're gonna agree on.
Go ahead, Susan.
Speaker 10 (30:51):
You know I can't believe out of all the big
news topics you've covered this week, that I'm calling in
about rats.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Well that's okay, and we got a big news drop
and coming up next hour or two, so.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
I'm interested to hear about that. I almost held off
and calling, but in any event, rats are the bane
of my existence.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Uh you're the second You're the second caller from Cambridge.
So let's yeah.
Speaker 10 (31:16):
I'm up in North Cambridge and Uh, first of all,
I just wanted to say I actually came back recently
from visiting a friend in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
just to clarify that it's I know, it feels like
a distinction without a difference. But the thing that the
disease that uh uh my wife got happens life. Yeah,
(31:40):
it's specific to mice, not to rats. And they don't
really have a big rat population in a city. What
they do have is, I mean, field mice exists everywhere
like farms, if there's hey, if there's grain, if there's anything.
So there are a lot of mice because it is
a semi rural area out there, so there's definitely field
(32:03):
mice all over the place. And if they take up
residents this disease, it has to be you can't catch
it like out of doors. You have to catch it
in if they've been like in a barn or in
a place where they've been urinating a lot and the
fumes get bad, it's from it's from the fumes of
their urine. So but yeah, it's it's mice. And and
(32:24):
you were actually correct that cats actually are not great
for rats. Rats are a bit too big for them.
They're great for mice. Yeah, you need a dog, you
need to talk for rats.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, and I'll bet you there are certain type dogs
that would be particularly effective. That's the I never thought
you would say I was right on something, su As
they're only teasing you. Susan and I often do battle
on issues here, but in this one we are. We're
joined at the hip on this one.
Speaker 10 (32:51):
But the reason, the reason they're the bane of my
existence is because it's not enough to just have like
a good garbage can, because I have had rat Like
if you get the slatest little crack or something in
a can, they will go in there and make a
huge hole. They will just eat, you know, as soon
as they get some little access point. I spent like
(33:15):
I think it was early winter, late fall last year,
I had a garbage can that had a hole in
it wasn't that big. I like triple quadruple duct taped it,
and then like three days later I go out to
put the garbage out and I see this like neat
little pile of something gray like it's and it turned
(33:39):
out they completely eaten through all of the duct tape,
like everything I did. So they're very determined. And you
know Steve's in Cambridge mentioned the black boxes well, those
contain poison, and we I know you've had people on
your show before. That's not a good idea, yeah, because
(34:01):
what it ends up doing is the rats eat it,
and then the raptors, the birds that eat the that
we want to eat, the rats eat the.
Speaker 8 (34:09):
Poisoned rats, and then they die.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
The U I heard, and I know that.
Speaker 10 (34:17):
I'm with you on again. I'm with you on the
birth control. I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Sounds great. We're okay, Susan, I got two more. I'm
gonna try to sneak in. Always great to your voice.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (34:29):
I have a good weekend, you too.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Real quickly, are going to go to Rick and Merrimack,
and I also got Nate in Northeastern Rick in Merrimac,
Go ahead, Rick.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Boston. Terry might be the name of the dog, Yes, yes, maybe. Anyways,
they're not.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
A big dog, by the way, but they're tough.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
That's right. Anyways, I mean I was a licensed plumber.
I don't have it at the moment, but anyways, we
have a spot on a code that I can't find
at this moment, and it's written there and it says
a strainer meaning a four during or a shell with
straining nothing. No hole shall be bigger than a half
an inch diameter. Meaning what they're trying to tell you
(35:11):
was they actually distort themselves and will squeeze through so
your dumpsters and all that with their little cracks and
whatnot and nothing for them to get into. So I
just thought i'd say that that kind of creep out
your audience a bit more, because they do need to
be creeped out, because there's a serious.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, yeah, you gotta be creeped out. So no, no,
they they get, they are able to get, and mice
are even worse in terms of getting through small little
little holes. But rats, Look, I would rather deal with
mice than I deal with rats. Okay, and it's got
nothing to do. Yeah, I mean, I just think rats
are disease carriers. Mice are too, probably, but I think
(35:52):
the rats are much much more proficient disease carriers. Hey, Rick,
thank you very much, great to hear your voice. Thanks
for calling. We'll talk soon, okay.
Speaker 5 (35:59):
Thanks, thank you for the time, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Thank you very much. Next up, Nate in Northeastern Nate,
you're going to wrap the hour for us. Go right ahead.
Speaker 11 (36:08):
Wonderful. Actually, I just wanted to, Uh. The collar previous
to me actually was talking about a lot of things
that I was going to say about the mice, which
I think is kind of funny.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
But well, you know what that means. Uh, that means,
that means great minds, they go right ahead.
Speaker 11 (36:30):
Uh, the Black Death was actually caused by gerbils. I
was taught when I was a kid it was rats,
you know, in school, I was taught that it was rats,
and that was the common theme. But actually when scientists
actually put their minds to it, they found out that,
in fact, it was gerbils.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
Because it's not.
Speaker 11 (36:45):
As you know, the actual stuff comes from you know,
the mice and what have you that attach themselves to
these different animals and that's what.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
Actually spreads it.
Speaker 11 (36:53):
But it was actually the spread. It spread through gerbils
and somewhat through field mice as well, because feel mice
spreed at law.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Well, you know, you might be right historically, and I
will be. I'm happy to be called.
Speaker 11 (37:05):
Just regarding the problem with rats, I'm not saying that.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Well, I get it, I get what you're saying, but
I gotta tell you I didn't hear about Gerbils until
Don Zimmer I think called some some umpire or gerbil,
or Bill Lee called Zimmer a gerbil. I think, yeah, growing,
I think that's what it was. Bill Lee referred to
Don Zimmer as a Gerbil, and yeah, I had to
(37:28):
figure what. I'd never seen a gurbil before, so whatever.
Speaker 11 (37:33):
Yeah, he was published in the proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences and everything.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Well in that case, okay, well we'll stand up in
salute on that one. Mate. Hey, thanks, I appreciate it.
It's what's amazing made is the breath of my audience,
and people who know stuff in my audience, they're amazing you.
Now you were now in that in that pantheon of callers.
Please call again, call more often. Okay, thanks, wonderful, all right,
(38:01):
thank okay, good night. Well we get back. I'm going
to be talking with a friend of mine. He and
I tend to disagree a little bit on this issue,
but we're going to talk about the Israeli Iranian War.
My guest is a tatsu Akida, and he he is
a He writes for Substack. He's an investigative journalist and analyst,
(38:22):
and he believes that Israel may be in more in
for a bigger fight than they realize. I certainly will
ask them about potential US involvement as well. So we
got lots to talk about. And then we have the
twentieth hour coming up, and I'm not sure going to
come up with them that someone made a suggestion today
to Marita. We may take B. C. Carey's suggestion, but
(38:46):
I'll explain that at eleven o'clock we're back at nightside
right after this
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