Rats are crawling all over Paris. And under Paris. According
to a report in the Wall St. Journal, they are turning up in supermarkets, parks
and nurseries…and almost everywhere else. One rat control expert recently
estimated that there are 4 million rats residing in the City of Light, far
eclipsing the number of human residents.
City
officials say that underground construction projects, the rising of the Seine
river, and improper disposal of rubbish are causing more and more rats to dwell
above ground. Most of the rats are wild, but some were likely raised as pets
and released while others may have escaped from laboratories. The officials
convened a meeting last fall to discuss ways to reduce the population. At which
time ten protesters strode forth, denouncing plans to poison and trap the vermin
as needless forms of unusual cruelty. Their suggestion? Deploy birth-control
drugs on the randy rodents. Yes, that’s correct, we’ve “advanced” to the point
where taxpayers are expected to pay for birth control for rats, now. I’m certain that
program would be a model of precise execution and efficiency. Would city
employees drop off hundreds of thousands of tiny condoms, diaphragms and
educational videos around likely breeding areas?
This
past January, a Paris trash collector video recorded hundreds of rats swarming
around in a large garbage container. One of the rodents leapt at him. The video
went viral. The sanitary engineer remarks in the recording: “It can’t go on
like this. It’s a huge plague.” That should
have gotten people’s attention.
Flea-infested
rats nearly eviscerated Europe in the Middle Ages by way of The Plague. The
creatures invaded pantries and destroyed crops, and nearly 60% of the its population died as a result. On a continent
steeped in history, one would think everyone would error on the side of
self-preservation. One would be wrong.
The
city apparently has numerous pro-rat activists who believe rats have the same
right to inhabit the city as any other mammal. They started an online petition to
save the rats. It garnered nearly 26,000 signatures.
The
Wall Street Journal article cited the retired psychologist who created the
petition. She said, “we are very disturbed,” adding that rights for rats are
only seen as abnormal “because others are able to live among the banality of
such cruelty.” She should have stopped at “we are very disturbed.” That
would’ve been accurate. “Others are able to live among the banality of such
cruelty?” You know she would never say the same thing about abortion, thus proving the cruelty of
her banality.
There
exists a French Facebook group called “Rat-Prochement: Save the Rats.” It
boasts 600 members…who take in “homeless rats.” Its founder says, “We really
need to find a balance to live together.” Or die together. Her rats live in
cages, but take turns roaming around her apartment. She and other activists
dismiss unease with the rodents as a form of “rat phobia” and see themselves as
part of a “resistance” movement.
It was
not so long ago that many French people took part in a truly heroic resistance
movement. Rapprochement was wrong then. Rat-Prochement is wrong now. You’ve
heard the expression “like rats abandoning a sinking ship.” Europe is turning
that phrase on its head. If leftist policy prescriptions and sentiments continue
to prevail in Europe, in all matters, great and small, rats will eventually be
the only ones left aboard that ship of state.
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