A person holds a container, used to carry any live rats that are caught so they can be used to train dogs, as a group of rat hunters gather with their dogs prior to rat hunting in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. The District of Columbia consistently makes the top five list of America's rattiest cities, a problem made worse by warming winters, a rising population, and outdoor dining areas made permanent after the Covid pandemic. There were nearly 13,400 calls to a city hotline for rat issues in 2022, up around 2,000 on the year before, according to local media reports.