However much we disagree with Iran on diplomatic matters, it seems Tehranians and New Yorkers can at least agree on one thing: rats suck.
Tehran has had a well-documented struggle with rats, but lately the problem has grown exponentially due to melting snow driving the beasts from their nests. And these aren’t just normal rats. Huffington Post reports:
The International Business Times quoted Tehran city council environment adviser Ismail Kahram, who told Iranian news website Qudsonline.ir that the rats “seem to have had a genetic mutation, probably as a result of radiations and the chemical used on them.”
They are now bigger and look different. These are changes that normally take millions of years of evolution. They have jumped from 60 grams to five kilos, and cats are now smaller than them,” Kahram said, according to the outlet.
However, Kahram’s claim was quickly debunked by Dr. David Baker, laboratory animal veterinarian at LSU, who told Huffington Post that it’s unlikely the rats got super-sized as the result of a mutation.
Still, Tehran has decided to handle the problem in a less-than-conventional route: snipers. Army snipers are now hunting the rats by night, using rifles and infrared scopes.
Meanwhile in New York, the MTA has decided on a more alternative route to help curb the subway rodent plague: birth control. Huffington Post reports:
The [MTA] has reportedly hired SenesTech, a pest control company, to test a new rat bait that acts as a kind of birth control, inducing early menopause in female rats and thus preventing them from reproducing.
So if you are a New Yorker and were wondering where your money was going with the new MetroCard fare increase, rest assured it’s being put to good use in making sure that Splinter sticks to training turtles.
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