[Winner of the popular vote in Themestream Journalist's Controversy Challenge]
In Deshnoke, a small city in the northwest
province of
Rajasthan, India, pilgrims cross miles of scorching desert on
foot to pay homage to Karni Mata, the Rat Goddess. Thousands
of rats, believed to be the reincarnated souls of mystics,
roam fearlessly through Karni Mata's temple, even in broad
daylight. Human worshippers bring the sacred beasts enticing
grains and fruits in silver bowls, occasionally offering an
affectionate pat on the head or scratch behind the ears as the
satisfied rodents stretch lazily in the sun.
The grateful rats select the tastiest morsels,
of course, but
generously leave some tidbits for their devotees. Having
completed their sacred mission, the worshippers go home
fulfilled, and the rats remain, happy and well-fed. All in
all, the system seems to be working just fine.
On this side of the globe, humans fail to see
the divinity in
their rodent neighbors. Reincarnated mystic or not, rats are
unwelcome in most American cities. Surprisingly, in New York
City, cultural center of the richest country on the planet,
people are not only unwilling to worship or share their food
with their rodent brothers, they actually consider a vigorous
population of several million rats a public nuisance!
In 1997, New York officials went so far as
to dedicate $8
million to establish an "Interagency Rodent Extermination
Task
Force" with the objective of evicting the city's resident
rats. By the year 2000, the annual anti-rodent budget had
risen to some $13 million, yet the rats continue to thrive and
proliferate. Let's consider a few ratty facts.
Your typical Norway rat (the popular big brown
variety) has
keen senses of hearing, smell, and touch - the better to seek
out eatables - and can easily chew through just about any
building materials known to man, including wood, wallboard,
plaster, masonry, and concrete. Though they grow to more than
a foot in length, not counting the tail, rats can squeeze
through an opening no more than a half-inch wide. Rats are
smart and they can find more ways to reach your food than you
can possibly anticipate. Rats are highly adaptable to changing
environments and food supplies. And, in just one year, a
single female rat can produce as many as 285 brand new rats
who are up and running in a matter of weeks.
We're fighting a losing battle. Rats have us
beat on every
front. They've already taken a hefty bite out of the Big
Apple, and they seem to like the taste. New Yorkers may not
care much for them, but rats seem to enjoy the company of
humans. Or at least they like our cities where endless
supplies of conveniently stashed food are always close at hand
(or paw) for the enterprising rodent.
Rats, according to conservative estimates,
outnumber human New
Yorkers about 6 to 1. So far, the city's best attempts at
rat-ocide have taken a big bite out of the fiscal budget but
barely a nibble out of the rat population. It might be time to
consider a more open-minded approach to the problem.
The Deshnoke pilgrims may have the answer.
Their sacred rats
seem easy going and well disposed toward humans while New York
street rats are aggressive and confrontational. Well, they are
New Yorkers, of course, but being hunted down like vermin and
poisoned in their holes may be rubbing them the wrong way,
too.
Still, it's never too late to turn things around.
New York has
a long tradition of welcoming immigrants, and the fresh blood
and cultural diversity has always made the city stronger and
better. Why should the rat population be any different?
Fighting the little varmints over every crumb and city block
has only strengthened their resolve to prevail and turned them
into a battle-hardened guerrilla force. Why not welcome them
into the light of day and integrate them into the dynamic
urban culture?
There's no need to abandon those city playgrounds
and baseball
fields being overrun by rats. Kids need to learn to share
anyway, and they may find that those playful cat-sized rats
playing tag in front of their apartment houses (according to a
recent New York Post report) are just looking for a little fun
on their nights out on the town. Organizing a lively game of
skins versus furs might be all that's needed for inter-species
harmony.
Mayor Giuliani has complained about the brazen
rats at Gracie
Mansion, but has he ever asked them for their ideas on
improving the city? Rats are, after all, his biggest
constituency (not counting the cockroaches, but that's another
story). So far, they haven't unionized or made formal demands,
but if the rat poisoning program continues unabated, things
could turn nasty. A mass rat demonstration would bring traffic
to a squeaking halt and shut down the city. And rats running
rampant in the streets, looting Fifth Avenue's elite shops and
trashing ritzy overpriced hotels wouldn't do the tourist trade
any good.
Rats don't ask for that much, really - a temple
of their own,
a few worshippers, a steady supply of tasty garbage, a cozy
subway system to nest in. They'd be content to take Manhattan,
the Bronx and maybe Staten Island, too. But they'd be
perfectly happy to share it all with us if we just learned to
behave in a more civilized manner. Rats are really quite
fair-minded when you get to know them. They used to be holy
mystics, after all.
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