Philly’s rats aren’t going anywhere, but a new strategy could keep them in check

💌 Love Philly? So do we. Let’s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. “Ever dream this rat?” That’s the question posed on a West Philly flyer sporting a picture of a rat in a leather jacket smoking a cigarette and drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon. “Every night, all over Philadelphia, hundreds of people see this rat in their dreams,” the poster reads. Below the text is a link that leads to a website showing a spinning pixelated image of a rat and nothing else. It’s unlikely that Philadelphians are actually dreaming of this beer-drinking, cig-smoking rat, but there is some truth to the poster. Rats are on the minds of Philadelphians, and they have been for a long time. Sometimes in broad daylight, rats are wrestling on sidewalks, rummaging through trash and scratching through the walls of Philly buildings. These rats are brave, and sometimes, in spite of their size, braver than us. Consider this harrowing tale from Annie Liontas, a writer based in