Rat Stencil, originally uploaded by FallenPegasus.

Our report this week on the major shrubbery overhaul on the southern edge of Bobby Morris playfield got a few of you talking about neighbors most affected by the work — the rats that made those bushes their ratty little rat homes:

So many rats lived/live in those bushes! It’s always fun/eeky to walk by and see them scurry around. Maybe the second biggest rat population in the hill after the dumpsters behind Neighbors?
Comment by Friend

I’m with Friend. I’ve lived on Capitol Hill for 18 years and lived off an alley for the last 12, and I have never seen as many rats scurrying around as I’ve seen under those bushes. (Well except lately, the dumpsters behind the new build on Denny and 13th have become a rat haven) I don’t know what it was about those particular bushes, but I for one am glad they’re gone.
Comment by darcyjo

We asked Parks about how they accounted for our rodent friends in the elimination of the dense hedges. Here’s what we heard back from Parks spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad:

[Thursday] we set out traps with bait in several areas of the park where they reside.  We have done this before.   We did not put traps in the newly opened area along Pine St. where the shrubs were removed because there was no place to safely put them.

There you go. The rats are free to move about the Hill but any of them hoping to make a home in the park won’t like the setting, it sounds like.