Wildlife in Paris #4

There is a lot of wildlife in Paris.  We have already shared sightings of insects, bees, goats.  

We have also seen some furry critters.  You guessed it.  Rats.  

While we have spotted plenty of scurrying rats at night, we don't have any photos to share.  They move quickly and we are not inclined to sit on a park bench and wait for them to emerge to forage.  That's a little too creepy.  

(UPDATE:  One day, while sitting in a park, we succeeded in photographing one of the furry Parisians that inhabit the city.

We have seen also rats in store windows.  Check out the rat lamps in the photo below.  Each rat lamp costs 65 euro.  

In Paris, there seem to be two camps:  anti-rat and pro-rat.  The anti-rat crowd wants to reduce the rat population, which has supposedly swelled to more than 3.5 million, which means there are more rats than people in the city limits.  The city has adopted a campaign that includes educating people about littering.

"Leave your trash on the ground and the rats proliferate."

Apparently, the city has also considered more active measures.  The guillotine was last used in France for a human execution in 1977.  However, the anti-rat crowd would like to resume use of the guillotine for rats.  No joke.  

A rat trap with internal blades to cut a rat's spinal cord: "the rat hardly suffers." 

On the other side is the pro-rat crowd.  That crowd believes rats have rights like all animals and the ongoing murine massacre is wrong.  Rats are supposedly beneficial because each consumes 7 kilos of garbage per year.  That's about 25 million kilos of garbage per year.  Plus, rats “are sensitive individuals” that can “feel emotions.”  One pro-rat group has sponsored educational posters in the subway.  Check it out.  

Translation:  "And what if we cohabited peacefully with rats?"  

"Rats feel emotions.  They want to live!"

Whether you are pro-rat or anti-rat, we hope you will still consider visiting us in Paris.  

P.S.  In case you were wondering, during Year 1 in NYC (the home of Pizza Rat), we saw quite a few rats.  NYC rats are noticeably bigger than their Parisians cousins.  

Addendum:  While visiting the Palais de Tokyo, a contemporary art museum, we spotted the installation pictured below.  In Paris, even rats can be art.