Too many rats? Birth control is one city's answer

In Somerville, Massachusetts just outside of Boston, everyone has a horror story about the rats.

Adeline Lining says they ruined Christmas for her last year. She had received a delivery of Bartlett pears.

"They were on my porch for two hours," she says. "And then my neighbor texted me a picture and was like, 'You probably don't want these anymore.' No, I don't want them anymore because there were rats inside the box feasting on my Christmas pears. They are directly responsible for ruining Christmas," she says.

Roger Moore / For NPR / For NPR

Then there's Donine Williams who says that a couple years back, rats got under her deck, chewed through the subfloor, and nested in the insulation. "I could smell the urine and their poo," she says. "I can still smell it."

And Andrew Jefferies