Washington DC Is Being Overrun By Rats

They scurry across alleyways. They chew through trash cans. They make a sound that’s something between a hiss and a chatter.

And despite the District’s efforts, the number of rats in Washington seems to be growing.

Complaints to 311 about rodents in the nation’s capital reached an all-time high in 2017 — totaling 5,310, a 50 percent increase from 2016 — and are on track to increase in 2018.

“It’s an eternal war,” said Mark Eckenwiler, an Advisory Neighborhood Commission member who lives on Capitol Hill. “You can kill them in one location and they pop up in another.”