I live on Vester near 9 mile and Woodward and have been battling rats for the last 3 years; we have lived here for 6. The problem is educating the public. I have done everything I can do in my yard to take care of the issue but many of my neighbors up and down my street have not. They use our back yard as a thoroughfare and every year starting in late June they appear. My wife is afraid to go outside any time past dusk for fear of running into the problem. We have spent the money to improve our backyard to be an extension of our house and have enjoyed entertaining and hanging out for the first 3 years we lived here but now we can’t enjoy it. It is one of the main reasons my wife and I are going to move out of this community.

Hmmm. There's another Liz who lives near 9 & Pinecrest?? I haven't seen any rats at all. I bet my cat Franny would catch 'em, though. He catches mice and birds and even a rabbit bigger than a man's shoe! I'll let you know if he catches any of these nasty vermin.

OMG, I've been going nuts over this! I live on Channing on the dead end side of the street and I've sat on my porch many a night watching them bounce down the street from the train yard. I called the city - they said that train yard is international territory and the can't do anything about it. Then they offered a brochure on getting rid of rats. Really? If that train yard isn't cleaned up, there's nothing we can do, they just keep pouring down the streets and setting up camp in everyone's garages, basements, crawl spaces, eating and tearing through everything! They don't venture into my yard very much (yay Boston Terriers!) but I hear them at night fighting in all my neighbors yards. This really needs addressed and I'm thrilled that they're finally starting to look at solutions but I strongly urge them to look at that train yard!!

rats at east hazelhurst and paxton.
yep.

i hear they make good eatin'.

We don't have any rats . We do have opossum, mice, raccoons, stray cats, and squirrels though. Oh, and woodchucks . You would think we lived in the woods lol

I live on E.Maplehurst and have seen rats in the alleys for 10 plus years.Big rats.Huge rats.Rats that look like cats!Called the restaurant on Woodward with the open dumpster and bags of foodwaste piled just as high.Nothing but snarky remarks and a still opened dumpster.Finally told them to ask the owner how she would like it if her neighborhood(does not live in Ferndale)became a rat haven.Nothing.Then began to call code enforcement with the same results.Never could understand why I had to call code enforcement as I saw them using the same alleyways with open dumpsters and clear garbage bags filled with food waste piled five feet high.Fast forward all these years and no wonder we have a rat infestation.To all the restaurants who keep the dumpsters closed thank you-to the rest get a larger dumpster or have it emptied twice a week.Sorry for the long rant people but this has been a pet(not rat!)peeve with me for many a year.

city hall is too busy to deal with this problem.
they are working on more important things like the next gun buyback or gay marriage or piece of public art.

I used to live on withington st. And they were a huge problem because my neighbors would sit outside and eat and throw their garbage everywhere. It was so bad and complaining to the landlord and city went no where. I am sure everyone in ferndale has seen or heard of the enormous couple that sits out in front and throws garbage everywhere. We had animal control even come out. I live on east Troy now and they aren't a problem here. But I still think the city needs to step in some how. And People don't pick up after their dogs either. Some houses yards you can't even walk past and rats love dog waste. Gross.

The City of Ferndale needs to crack down on section 8 housing and secure garbage. Both section 8 homes on my street have overflowing trash cans with no lids. The cans have been eaten through, tipped over with items strewn about the squirrels. I bet the rats, while bad, are getting the full blame for this when the squirrels are just as bad, if not worse, than the rats.

Section 8 homes in Ferndale should be mandated to recycle as part of their community service requirement.

I was sitting out back at one of the bars on West Troy...more than once this summer and saw rats run against the wall of three buildings. The first time, I jumped up and watch the rat run between two buildings. Many times, rats would run across. I sent an email the city nothing was done. Also, I questioned an employee working," Yeah, there are two holes around the light post. We see rats daily." Get the posion out...

We need to address rentals. Many of the rents need to be put out. Our rents let their pit bull run out of the house. The police have raided the house. The renter does not even live in the house. He rents it out. Two females and three males share the house. They have thrown their trash into the neighbor's house on both side.

The City was fantastic when my neighbors started leaving open trash cans at the side of their house (a few feet from my kitchen door). Trash cans have to be closed and behind the house. I sent polite emails with pictures to a few people at the city (a general email address and a code enforcement email address). Not only did they ticket the neighbors repeatedly but they followed through with a court hearing regarding the continued violation. End result? The neighbors FINALLY moved their trash. The cans are probably still open and overflowing in their back yard but at least the trash isn't outside my door now. I'm east of Hilton off Woodward Heights, we have rat burrows all over the place in this area. Especially along fence lines. People assume they are snake holes or some other type of animal hole. Google rat burrow to see what they look like. There was a dead rat in the road a few days ago. Gross. I won't put poison out, though, too many kids and pets in this neighborhood.

What are you supposed to do when rats are taking up residence in vacant houses in the neighborhood that the city won't do anything about?

they are now in Oak Park-some enterprising engineer needs to come up with a sound frequency that will chase them away!

Fostering Birds of prey habitats could be a solution. I've seen hawks carrying off rats downtown before. Big cities foster Falcon habitats to control the pidgeon populations. So why not?