PhD Graduate Student Yale University, United States
Urban rodents are a major issue in large American cities, including infestations of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). Beyond the damage to infrastructure and food stocks, urban rodents also create a public health crisis as they are reservoirs for numerous zoonotic diseases, including leptospirosis and hantavirus. While cities often have rodent management departments, most, including Philadelphia, only respond to citizen complaints and use environmentally hazardous rodenticides. Cities often lack systematic sampling on the spatial and temporal distribution of rodents and their pathogens and factors affecting the prevalence of infestation. Collectively these biases lead to underestimating actual public health risks from rodents though perceived risks are often high. My study proposes the first contemporary research to investigate where and what variables affect urban rodent populations in Philadelphia and the association of zoonotic pathogens. Particularly, my research builds on existing scholarship within the two fields of urban ecology and environmental justice in new ways by examining the roles of energy justice and auxiliary injustices as contributing factors in urban rodents’ prevalence. In doing so, we help identify where interventions in urban rodent populations are needed most in Philadelphia, creating healthy and sustainable environments for Philadelphians.
