Swamp Rats

This is a story about those damn rats in Washington, DC. I don’t mean the stinkers, bums, crumbs, finks, and lowlife vermin one usually associates with the DC rat race. I mean, like, the rodents and the dogs (and dog-owners) who hunt them. And it’s quite the story, with quite the opening. “The sound of a rat screaming in the jaws of a terrier is the same sound that a stuffed squeaky toy makes. It seems so obvious. Of course the toys sound that way, because that sound awakens something deep in a docile dog’s neurons that says: Shake it. Shake it till it’s dead.” Even that lede—the similarities to the grip party extremists have on Kevin McCarthy notwithstanding—seems like a refreshing change from the usual reporting out of the nation’s capital. WaPo (Gift Article): Washington is full of rats. These dogs are happy to help with that. “The rat hunters’ primary motivation, they say, is making their dogs happy. The free pest control for the city is a bonus. But the dogs aren’t the only ones having fun. The humans see it as a team sport.” (Just like with those other Washington stories…)