Why Does Everyone Hate Rats? (Update)

New York City’s mayor called them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the Black Death — although recent scientific evidence disputes that claim. In an updated episode from 2025, we ask: Is the rat a scapegoat? And what does our rat hatred say about us?

• SOURCES:

• Bethany Brookshire (bethanybrookshire.com), author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.

• Kathy Corradi (linkedin.com/in/kathleen-corradi-0678514a), senior vice president of resident services, partnerships, and initiatives at the New York City Housing Authority.

• Ed Glaeser (scholar.harvard.edu/glaeser/home), professor of economics at Harvard University.

• Nils Stenseth (mn.uio.no/english/people/adm/fac/research/nilsst), professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Oslo.

• RESOURCES:

• "On Patrol With the Rat Czar, (nymag.com/intelligencer/article/rat-czar-kathl…)" by Mark Chiusano (Intelligencer, 2024).

• "How Rats Took Over North America, (scientificamerican.com/article/how-rats-took-o…)" by Allison Parshall (Scientific American, 2024).

• "Where Are the Rats in New York City, (nytimes.com/2024/10/24/realestate/rats-nyc-bor…)" by Matt Yan (New York Times, 2024).

• Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains (amzn.to/4hQ725I) by Bethany Brookshire (2022).

• "Human ectoparasites and the spread of plague in Europe during the Second Pandemic, (pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1715640115)" by Nils Stenseth, Katharine Dean, Fabienne Krauer, Lars Walløe, Ole Christian Lingjærde, Barbara Bramanti, and Boris Schmid (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018).

• EXTRAS:

• "Freakonomics Radio Live: 'Jesus Could Have Been a Pigeon.' (freakonomics.com/podcast/freakonomics-radio-li…)" by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

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