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