Cities are at war with rats. Flaco the owl and other animals pay the price.

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Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo, continues to roost and hunt in Central Park, February 15, 2023 in New York City, New York
Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo.

Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis/Getty Images

Family Dollar has agreed to pay $42 million after storing food and medicine in a warehouse with a severe rodent infestation

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A group of rats eating food on a set of brick stairs
The FDA uncovered a severe rodent infestation in January 2022 at a Family Dollar warehouse. The photo does not show the warehouse in question.

Getty Images

Cinema-goers shocked as rats gnawed on popcorn around them, say reports

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Two rats eat from a popcorn bucket - stock photo.
Two rats eat from a popcorn bucket - stock photo.

Lightspruch

Chicago's 'rat hole' was mysteriously filled and then restored. Now it's a place of holy rat-rimony.

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A rat-shaped hole with smoke coming out of it.
Chicago's iconic Rat Hole in the 1900 block of West Roscoe Street in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere /Chicago Sun-Times via AP

Russian soldiers are facing a 'mouse fever' outbreak on the frontlines, Ukrainian intel says

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A Ukrainian military health worker holds up a mouse with scissors in front of the trench in Donetsk Region of Ukraine in December 2023.
A Ukrainian military health worker holds up a mouse with scissors in front of the trench in Donetsk Region of Ukraine in December 2023.

Anadolu/Getty Images

Giant guinea pig-sized rats that climb trees and chomp coconuts were photographed for the first time by researchers

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A Vangunu giant rat, Uromys vika, crawls on a tree in the Solomon Islands
The Vangunu giant rat, Uromys vika, likes to sleep in trees.

Tyrone Lavery

10 rattiest cities in America in 2023, according to pest control experts

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A rat superimposed over an American flag.
Each year, Orkin pests ranks the 50 rattiest cities in America.

[Flag] Glasshouse Images/Getty Images; [rat] Cavan Images/Get

Rats could breed too quickly for NYC's successful new extermination method to keep up

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A rat climbing up a rope.
Climate change is threatening a lot of species, but rats don't seem to mind a warming world.

CreativeNature_nl / Getty Images

What if all the rats in NYC died tomorrow?

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Rats
Three rats scavenge for food on the subway platform at Herald Square in New York City.

Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful — for now

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A rat crosses a yellow section of a Times Square subway platform in New York.
A rat crosses a Times Square subway platform in New York on January 27, 2015.

Richard Drew, File/Associated Press

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