I was watching that dumb Rats documentary and it made me think.

>>2251952
>Aren't rats...important to the environment?
No, not really, assuming you live in a somewhat urban area. The best they can do is eat some cockroaches. There are few to no predators in cities.

Similar animals like shrews and field mice are important, but those aren't in cities either.

This is almost like asking if bedbugs are important to the environment. They depend on human settlements.

There are so many different species called rats. Some of them are very important. Some aren't.

>>2251952
Common brown rats are vermin and disease carriers. They serve absolutely no purpose, and are extremely destructive.

What does it truly mean for something to be "important to the environment"?

Is environmental protection a means to an end, or an end in itself?

>>2251952
No. The goal of Integrated Pest Management is control; not the eradication of pest species

>>2251971
>#1 source of coyotes diets: rats
>#1 source of wolves diet: rats

How's it feel to be a retard?

>>2252034
Do coyotes and wolves live in cities now? Cleveland? NYC? I mean, there are plenty of coyotes near me, but I have miles and miles of countryside beginning just a few acres from my suburban lot. We also don't really have rat problems here, not like dense cities do. Did you even read my post?

>>2252034
>How's it feel to be a retard?

Please tell us.

>>2252252
>Do coyotes and wolves live in cities now?
Not the guy you were talking to but: Wolves, no, but coyotes, absolutely. Due to their adaptive nature, they don't just live in rural areas or even suburban ones--they adapt to urban environments too. There are quite a few coyotes even in dense city centers like Chicago and NYC. Pretty fascinating, really

>>2252034
Is this a rhetorical question? Because I think you can answer this yourself.

>>2252417
I know what you mean, I live in Dallas, TX. And some times I will have to call animal control to pickup what the first time I thought was a stray dog, but turned out to be a coyote. They act alot more viciously than a stray and killed some womans little chihuahua the other day (desu im glad it did, that thing was like a sewer rat and just yipped constantly).

>>2252417
>Wolves, no,
Idiot, if you don't know what you are talking about say so. In Eastern Europe and Italy wolves do live in and around cities.
There's a pack in Brasov, it was I think, that feeds on rabbits in parks and of course garbage.
In Italy wolves eat the waste from slaughter.
>important to the environment
No such thing, some species support others, and the emergent ecosystem supports certain species. But there's no importance in the environment. At least that's what I conclude.

Because I see it often that people think certain species have a purpose within an ecosystem which is false. They have roles and support other species - that's all. And many species supress others, which sometimes have positive effects for the overall biodiversity but not always.

>>2252471
The last part was of course directed to OP.

Why are rats pests when other animals like squirrels aren't?

>>2252252

Coyotes do live in NYC. Many coyotes are moving into urban areas. You just don't see them like you do pigeons. Apparently feral cats are plentiful in NYC but I have never seen a single one in my 20 years. Animals hide from people.

>>2251952
They are considered an introduced pest in most environments they inhabit now though a lot of predators have evolved to take advantage of the abundant food source.
I guess in that sense they are someone important to ecosystems they have invaded but not essential.
Plus they are prolific breeders so any amount of rats killed via pestcontrol would be replaced somewhere pretty quickly.

>>2253546
Squirrels lack stigma behind them despite them being much more destructive than rat's to the ecosystem. Plus squirrels are cute I guess.

>>2253605

Rats are cuter.

>>2253546
>Animals hide from people.
That's smart of them.

>>2253546
Squirrels don't invade people's houses and shit in their cereal. They mostly stick to trees where they don't interfere with human affairs.

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Rats are fundamental as food in their size range, most medium size predators depend on them, including hawks that usually live in cities.

And cats obviously, (don't take the bait plz).

Besides that, good luck eliminating the rats from a city, they outnumber us.

>>2255568
An entire Canadian province got rid of rats.

>>2255572
Now they're probably overrun by mice.

>>2255572
Dude it's Canada, run the rats out of the houses and they die in the winter, or are eaten by a hundred predators.

They probably are still alive out there and at the moment they stop caring, they will be overrun by them again, never understimate how adapted they are at living with humans, and how fast they reproduce.

>>2251952
Remember the 666 gorillions, goyim!

>>2251952
What documentary?

>>2252252
There's tons of them in literally any part of LA

>>2255958
>literally any part of LA
False. Only place you'll find them is at the foot of hills where people have their houses up against the forests and park areas. You would never see a coyote or wolf in downtown LA.

>>2255953
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUPAFyPYU1Q
I'm guessing OP means this. It is indeed kinda dumb.

>>2255580
This province has extensive patrols and all that sightings get reported fairly quickly from what I've read. I'm assuming they poisoned and trapped all of them in an aggressive manner.

>>2256342
Sensationalist Bullcrap, my favorite kind of bullcrap.

>>2256351
If you have to do all that, the rats already won.

>>2256383
No wonder the Jews survived WW2.

>>2253546
I've been many feral cats but never a coyote. How would they get to the city anyway? They can't afford the tolls.

>>2256791

I don't know about Manhattan but they probably exist in parks. I have heard of several citings in Queens and Long Island.

>>2255953

"Rats"

>>2255552
>this needs to be fucking pointed out
Why are rat apologists such goddamn idiots?

>>2256869
Squirrels destroy fucking farmland and are an invasive species with no natural predators in the US.

Oh.

>>2252034
>wolves and coyotes live in the walls of inner city apartment buildings

>>2255572
>>2255580
Alberta had no native rats until Norway rats were introduced by Europeans. As Alberta as no ports and extremely cold winters, the government merely had to encourage people to lay traps and poison in homes and barns until no rats were left anywhere in the province. Now there's a provincial hotline to call in sightings

>>2257855
hawks and owls, foxes, coyotes, wildcats, weasels and snakes?