August 7, 2007
Build A Better Mousetrap
The Washington Post has their ear to the ground, listening for the news that D.C. really wants to hear: the next wave of super duper anti-rat technology. Or not, they add, but Joseph Dussich, inventor of the Repel-X trash bag, thinks he's found the key to Pied Piper the city's rats right out of town, or at least away from alley dumpsters. His trash bags use the aroma of eucalyptus and a few secret ingredients that are, perhaps ironically, so vile a smell to rats that they flee in disgust.
The article notes that New York City tried out the bags in Central Park, but abandoned the idea after they proved unsuccessful. Still, the parks commissioner on Long Island swears by them and the entrepreneur is quick to point out that laboratory studies find them fairly effective. The current D.C. rat consultant claims the trash bag is just another flash in the pan in our ongoing War on Rodents, but let's be honest: are we totally convinced by the guy who's brought us the status quo? If the cost isn't prohibitive, isn't it worth it to try almost anything?
Photo by dcdan.
|
Why doesn't the city just put together a pack of Rat Terriers, and set them loose in the alleys?
Sounds like another brilliant fragrance idea by the SCJohnson Wax.
Anyone who thinks a hungry rat won't eat through a scented trashbag obviously doesn't know the first thing about them.
Keeping trash in secured cans is the best method of not feeding the rats. What does it matter to the rats if the bags in the cans smell like eucalyptus, or whatever, if the rats can't get into the cans in the first place?
People need to use metal cans with tight fitting lids. I've heard stories of rats gnawing right through those District-issued plastic Supercans.
Re: rats chewing through plastic garbage cans
I don't doubt it, but crikey if the thought of it doesn't give me chills and bring "1984" to mind.
If the issue really is plastic vs. metal, then maybe the solution is metal cans with wheels. Seems like lots of people get the plastic ones because they're easier to move.
Wait. This didn't work in NYC so we're going to try it in DC? I guess all the rats go to the Big Apple for auditions and the dumb ones get sent here. I really need to pay more attention to Animal Planet and National Geographic.
Someone please use these at 19th and K! I can't walk past that building at night without seeing multiple rats cross the sidewalk in front of me. (I know that building contains a lot of law firms, but come on!)
"If the cost isn't prohibitive, isn't it worth it to try almost anything?"
I think P.T. Barnum had an expression to describe people like you. (n.b.: it wasn't really P.T. Barnum's line, apparently). But really, what #5 said. NYC tried and rejected the idea.
On the other hand, while his theory about dumb rats being sent here seems initially wacky, consider the cab situation. It's obvious that New York City sends all it's dumb (or simply incompetent) cab drivers here. So maybe it's not so far fetched after all.