Photos: Hawk Catches Rat at Somerville Park

The bird clawed its prey at a playground and park in the heart of Somerville.

Somerville Patch reader Sarah Hassan recently captured these amazing photos of a hawk with a dead rat in its talons. Hassan said in an email she took the photos at about 5:15 p.m. on Oct. 24 when she was at Edward Leathers Community Park with her mother.  Edward Leathers Park, not far from City Hall, Somerville High School and the library, has a play area for children, a dog run, and space for people to sit on benches and walk. Hassan said she and her mother saw the hawk when it suddenly flew out of some bushes with the rat. When someone passed by the bird, it flew off, she said. She also took photos of the blood splotches left behind by the kill.

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Spike in Rat Sightings Blamed on Mild Winter

Somerville, New York, Chicago and Baltimore all experienced increased rodent sightings in 2012, according to Somerville's ResiStat blog.

In case you missed it (as I did), a September post on the city's ResiStat blog confirms what many already observed on their own: There seems to be more rats than usual in Somerville this year. The ResiStat blog says the city's 311 system received about 52 percent more calls about rodent sightings in 2012 than in 2011. It compared Somerville's data to data from other cities, namely Chicago, New York and Baltimore, and found those areas also saw a spike in rodent sightings. The ResiStat blog suggests the mild winter we all had in 2012 is to blame.  The blog post also includes some information about what Somerville is doing about the rodent problem, a map of rodent sightings and a link to the city's new rodent webpage.

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Somerville Aldermen Rail Against Rats, Absentee Landlords

One section of Somerville has set up a neighborhood watch group to monitor the rodents, said an alderman.

Several members of the Somerville Board of Aldermen vented anger about the rat problem in parts of the city, and they put the blame at the feet of absentee landlords. The city's Inspectional Services Division was also a target of their frustration. Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston sparked the string of angry statements with an order that the Inspectional Services Division deal with a "greatly increased rodent infestation" around Lincoln Park. "The neighbors have actually sort of got their own neighborhood watch group going. Imagine a neighborhood watch group for rodents rather than criminals," Heuston said. The alderman said she put together a "detailed plan" about what she wants from Inspectional Services, implying the division's response …

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Week in Review: Top Stories This Week

Week in Review: Maxwell's Green, Wal-Mart, Best of Boston

Also, home sales were down in Somerville and a man came to speak about rats.

Wal-Mart Wal-Mart's plan to open a grocery store in Somerville's Assembly Square continued to spark interest this week when Somerville's mayor, Joeseph Curtatone, indicated he was against the plan. Later in the week, Curtatone published an opinion piece in Somerville News indicating there were benefits and drawbacks to the plan, and he wanted to start a conversation about it. Maxwell's Green The $52.5 million residential development near the Lowell Street bridge, which will contain 184 units of rental housing and is known as MaxPac, announced it had secured financing from Sovereign Bank and that construction at the site had begun in earnest. The developers have hired J. Derenzo Company as a subcontractor. That drew a mixed reaction from at…

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Rat Facts: Rodent Expert in Somerville, Tells Public Animals are 'Complex'

Robert Corrigan, a rat expert form New York, said it takes coordination to defeat the rodents.

"A bunch of rats in a sewer: That, to me, is interesting," said Robert "Bobby" Corrigan to the crowd gathered at city hall Thursday night. "At night, if you follow me around, I'm usually in some alleyway" looking for rats, he said. Corrigan spoke at a special meeting of the board of aldermen's committee on health and public safety. With a Ph.D. in the field of rodents and a resume that includes tackling New York City's rat problem, Corrigan acknowledged most people don't share his fascination with the rodents. After all, this is a man who slept with rats in a barn, even spreading peanut butter on his body in an attempt to draw the animals close enough to photograph. They weren't interested. Rats not interested in peanut butter? It's one of…

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