Officials soften their tone on rodents even as the live sighting map keeps filling up
An estimated 6 million rats, and a distinctly diplomatic approach
Paris is home to an estimated 4 to 6 million rats, according to reporting compiled by Gulf News’ feature on the city’s rodent population, and city officials have increasingly floated the idea of cohabitation rather than eradication. It is, in fairness, a refreshingly honest pivot for a city that spent years insisting the rat problem was under control.
A live map that residents check more than the weather
One city councillor built a real-time rat sighting map for his district, allowing residents to report live and deceased sightings directly, a genuinely useful civic tool that also functions as an unofficial, ongoing scoreboard the city would probably prefer nobody kept.
The history runs deeper than most tourists realise
Paris rats have featured in French literature for well over a century, from Les Miserables to a certain animated film about a very talented chef, proof that this particular relationship long predates any current mayor’s tenure and will likely outlast several more.
Fazit
Cohabitation it is, then, with millions of very small, very permanent neighbours. SOURCE: https://www.leparisien.fr/ For more British satire on a related theme, see The London Prat’s Dangerous-Driving Videos Removed.