Rat experts gathered in Boston this week for the second annual National Urban Rodent Summit. The two-day event brought together rodentologists, pest management pros, and public health officials from across the country to share and discuss innovative approaches to urban rodent management.

City officials also provided an update on the Boston Rodent Action Plan (BRAP), Boston’s citywide effort to reduce rodent activity.

“What we have accomplished under our rodent action plan so far is that we’ve been much more proactive and collaborative. This expanded rodent control to include agencies who initially didn’t see themselves as being on the front lines of rodent mitigation,” Chief of Operations Dion Irish said at the summit.

In a brief address Thursday, Mayor Michelle Wu said Boston should be a home for everybody, except rats. “Instead of making this a rat race, we’re gathering to burrow beneath the surface of this issue, gnaw through tough questions, and scurry toward solutions that improve the quality of life for communities everywhere,” she said in a statement.

Pest control has become a hot topic in recent years, with City Councilor Ed Flynn spending much of last summer advocating for a dedicated Rat Czar, a new position and dedicated point of contact solely focused on rodent issues. Instead, the BRAP has taken an interdepartmental approach, incorporating Inspectional Services, Parks and Recreation, and the Water and Sewer Commission, among other offices.

Leading urban rodentologist and BRAP author Bobby Corrigan said that humans have been “whacked” by rats for centuries and that new perspectives, technologies, and innovation in city operations promise cutting-edge updates toward the city-dweller’s oldest foe. In his keynote speech, he described pest control as a public health issue.

“[Rats] are associated with about 55 different public pathogens, and who knows when you’re going to get a virus that mutates and turns into something, just like COVID did,” he said.

The summit featured multiple panels on pest control and rodentology, focusing on practical, evidence-based approaches to reducing urban rat populations. The D.C. Responsible Rat Management Coalition pitched community engagement and proactive behaviors as vital toosl for preventing rodent infestation without the use of harmful poisons.

Anthrozoologist Holly Gerbrich said that in her research, people have become more understanding that rats are a natural part of the urban ecosystem and are focused on ensuring the pests stay outside and away from their children.

A similar study by City Wildlife found that alarming numbers of rodenticides had spread to other local fauna, prompting experts and concerned citizens to form a coalition to take on rodentkind in a new way.

Coalition member and D.C. Voters for Animals Executive Director Max Broad added that the community engagement element has fired up residents to help make D.C. less hospitable to contamination and more supportive of policies improving waste management and stricter poison control.

“Training advocates, preparing them on how to write testimony, how to deliver it, how to talk about these issues, how to show up at a hearing, testify, get to talk to their elected leaders. This is something that we want to make sure our community is well-equipped to engage on this issue,” he said.

Despite their successes, the Responsible Rat Management Coalition also reported challenges to their effort. Organizing consistent participation and changing the habits of community members at scale has been difficult overall.

“We found that people are just so trained to think that rats are a city government problem or that poison is the only way to get rid of them. So it’s really difficult to get people to make that paradigm shift to, ‘What can I do first towards prevention?’” Gerbrich said.

Rodents thrive when they have access to food, water, and shelter. The BRAP recommends residents manage their trash using sturdy barrels with tight-fitting lids, bring out trash no earlier than 5 p.m. the night before collection, and refrain from overfilling barrels.

Eliminating standing water, sealing building foundations, and keeping yards, alleys, and shared spaces clutter-free will also keep rats away from homes.

BRAP also recommends that if you see something, “squeak something,” by reporting overflowing barrels, illegal dumping, or rodent activity to 311.