{"id":43415,"date":"2016-10-05T17:01:29","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T22:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=43415"},"modified":"2016-10-05T17:01:29","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T22:01:29","slug":"homeless-rats-chicago-10-05-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/homeless-rats-chicago-10-05-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago\u2019s homeless fight a continuing war on rats"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Janice Cantieri \/ <\/strong>Photography by Lloyd DeGrane<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jimmie Korosa awakened in the middle of the night with a foot-long rat clawing at his back.<\/p>\n

Korosa battles the rats every day. Like many people experiencing homelessness in Chicago, he camps in a tent in a vacant lot and faces constant exposure to the disease-carrying rodents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they run by, they sound like a herd of elephants. They\u2019re not afraid of humans – they eat anything and everything,\u201d Korosa said.<\/p>\n

More than 30,000 rodent complaints were filed in 2016 alone, according to the City of Chicago\u2019s data portal<\/a>. But while Chicago\u2019s rats affect the entire city, the homeless are on the front lines.
\n<\/p>\n

\"jimmies-rats-at-chicago-river-and-roosevelt-3\"
Jimmie Korosa constantly battles with rats in and around his tent, a foe exposing him to numerous diseases. (Lloyd DeGrane)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI wake up, jump, and then they run out of the tent, but they just come right back. Their teeth look like rows and rows of razor blades,\u201d said Korosa, who lives in an encampment along the Chicago River.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I go to bed, I empty everything out of my tent, so all that\u2019s left in my tent is my blankets and a pillow,\u201d Korosa said. \u201cIf there is anything in my tent, they will go in there and hide. Even if I chase them out, they come right back.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Korosa decided to do something about the problem himself: he started fighting back.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery night I come home, empty my tent and I set traps. Within two minutes of setting the traps, they\u2019re both full. I catch about 10 each night, and I throw them in the river,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Korosa uses gloves to set his two rat traps and throw the dead rats into the river, but he relies on the same, dirty pair of utility gloves since he doesn\u2019t have access to disposable gloves, he said.<\/p>\n

\"jimmie-rats\"
One of Jimmie Korosa\u2019s rat traps. Korosa sets his two traps every night, but says they are filled within 10 minutes. (Janice Cantieri\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Living in close proximity to rats can increase the risk of contracting one of many<\/a> infectious diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

In Chicago, the primary rodent-borne diseases are rat-bite fever, leptospirosis, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis, but reported cases are rare, said Dr. David Schwartz, chair of infectious diseases at Cook County Health & Hospitals. Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that causes aseptic meningitis (the swelling of membranes surrounding the brain), and, occasionally, kidney and liver failure, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see patients with leptospirosis, which has also been described in other U.S. cities, slightly more often [than other rodent-borne diseases], once every year or two, and virtually always among persons with presumed exposure to rat urine from unsafe housing or work,\u201d Schwartz said.<\/p>\n

But, despite the health risks, the homeless have become experts in rodent control\u2014not by choice but out of necessity. Donald King and Charles Holder, residents of an encampment beneath Lake Shore Drive, say they have killed 35 rats this year alone.<\/p>\n

\"charles-points-out-rat-trails-near-lawrence-ave-and-lsd-copy\"
Charles Holder points out \u201crat trails\u201d worn in the ground. At night, dozens of rats travel on these trails straight to the viaduct where he camps. (Lloyd DeGrane)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got rat traps and poison, but mainly we kill them by hand. We grab them and get a rock, shovel, brick or stone and kill them,\u201d Holder said.<\/p>\n

Holder pointed out several trails leading to holes in the bottom of tree trunks, which he called \u201crat trails.\u201d The rats run down from the holes straight to the viaducts in packs, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the trail is coming towards you, they\u2019ll come right to your tent at night,\u201d he said. Pointing to one burrow, he said, \u201cAt night, there\u2019s about 20 or 25 rats coming out of that hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"charles-tent-hole-where-rats-bite-through-to-try-and-get-food-inside-the-tent-copy\"
Rats chewed through Charles Holder’s tent. (Lloyd DeGrane)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Holder\u2019s neighbor Donald King filled a burrow with lighter fluid to burn the rats out because they were coming into his tent and running through the viaduct every night, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI killed more rats this winter than anyone, because they were out here every night and no one was doing anything about it. I put lighter fluid in the holes where they burrow and lit that up. They all went running,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

The City of Chicago has taken action to reduce the population of rats by adding additional teams to its Rodent Task Force, said Jennifer Martinez of the Department of Streets and Sanitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really try to identify the food source and eliminate that. We have teams that come out, and we just added 10 more teams to our Rodent Task Force.\u201d Martinez said. \u201cAs of this year, we must respond to all calls within a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, a new program has been implemented in several downtown locations to spray dry ice into rat burrows. The burrows are then covered, and as the ice melts, it turns into carbon dioxide and suffocates the animals, she said.<\/p>\n

\"rat-burrows\"
Rat burrows near Lake Shore Drive. (Janice Cantieri\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited for the dry ice. We just started the dry ice program in late August in mostly downtown locations to start. So far it\u2019s been effective, with a 60 percent reduction in holes,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

As for the city\u2019s homeless, Martinez said that teams from the department visit communities and provide tips on how to avoid rat infestations. She recommended that those affected, including the homeless, call 3-1-1 to file complaints.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Elmo holds two dead rats with his bare hands.\u00a0\u00a0(Lloyd DeGrane)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Janice Cantieri \/ Photography by Lloyd DeGrane Jimmie Korosa awakened in the middle of the night with a foot-long rat clawing at his back. Korosa battles the rats every day. Like many people experiencing homelessness in Chicago, he camps in a tent in a vacant lot and faces constant exposure to the disease-carrying rodents. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":318,"featured_media":43564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,28,29,30,675,2582],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-43415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-spring-2016","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago\u2019s homeless fight a continuing war on rats - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/homeless-rats-chicago-10-05-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago\u2019s homeless fight a continuing war on rats - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Janice Cantieri \/ Photography by Lloyd DeGrane Jimmie Korosa awakened in the middle of the night with a foot-long rat clawing at his back. 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