Rats! This is one national ranking Portland doesn't want
Courtesy / Britannica
Rats are common in cities everywhere, including Portland. Construction, public works projects and weather changes can make the populations more active.
Portland has made another national ranking, but this one doesn’t tout the city’s quality of life, cuisine or craft beer.
Maine’s largest community of humans may also be among the country’s largest communities of rats — or at least that’s the suggestion of an annual study by the pest control company Orkin. Portland ranks No. 38 on the list, after scurrying and clawing up from No. 64 last year.
The 26-point jump was the largest change among the ranks, and placed Portland in the top 50 for the first time, Orkin said in a news release Thursday.
The company based its findings on analysis of rodent services performed in the year ending Sept. 15. Atlanta-based Orkin, part of Rollins Inc. (NYSE: ROL), serves more than 1.7 million commercial and residential customers through 400 locations in the U.S.
Portland ranks as the third-most rat-serviced city in New England, after Boston, No. 13, and Hartford, Conn., No. 21. Chicago ranked No. 1.
It's not clear if the rankings were calculated in relation to (human) population. A spokeswoman for Orkin did not immediately respond to questions from Mainebiz about the methodology and the number of cities compared.
A 2014 study by another pest control company, Rentokil, found that 15% of businesses nationwide lose revenue because of infestation by rats and other vermin. Up to 41% of the businesses said staff morale had suffered.
In Portland, city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin told Mainebiz, “While we don't put much stock in these kinds of lists, I can tell you that we are leveraging [vendor] Modern Pest Control's technology to monitor and control pests in commercial, municipal, and residential settings.”
The city’s Water Resources Division recently rolled out a rodent mitigation program that included the installation of 40 rat trapping devices in sewer pipes at priority locations across Portland. The devices were installed in response to complaints from residents and businesses that had seen rats or experienced infestations.
“Rat populations have been on the move during COVID due to a decrease in restaurant operations,” Grondin said. “Portland has also had a number of critical and long-overdue sewer infrastructure projects under construction, which can also disturb populations.”
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