Rat Becomes Media Star, Photobombing Baltimore Reporter’s Coverage of City’s Living Conditions

Rat Becomes Media Star, Photobombing Baltimore Reporter’s Coverage of City’s Living Conditions

A rat in West Baltimore has become an unexpected media star, after running through a local Fox TV reporter’s live shot as she discussed President Donald Trump labeling the city a “rat and rodent infested mess” in a recent Tweet.

Fox 45 Baltimore reporter Maxine Streicher was engaged in a live broadcast from the city’s Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood on Monday when the camera panned over to an alley just as a rat scurried out from under trash and along a wall. The live shot prompted widespread mockery from supporters of the president who touted the video as “proof” the president was correct in telling Maryland’s 7th District Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings via Twitter to “clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.”

“Now, we spoke with many people today, who say the president should consider coming here to Baltimore, to the Sandtown area, and taking a look at things for himself,” Streicher can be heard saying as the camera examined a nearby alley.

The rat can be seen emerging from behind several bags of trash on the ground before running along a wall and disappearing into an adjacent patch of grass and concrete.

Here is the report:

One aspect of Trump’s presidency that I have come to admire is his ability to set the agenda, in terms of the topics the media will cover. The president has now turned national attention to a serious public health problem that has escalated over the past few years that we have covered at Legal Insurrection: Rat infestation.

I have detailed the typhus outbreak in the Los Angeles area, as the flea-borne disease is spread by rats and other scavengers getting fat from the homeless camp wastes spreading throughout southern California. Now a new study has confirmed that rat infestation is a statewide problem.

An ever-growing number of rodents in California — particularly in Los Angeles — is being fueled by a spiking homeless population and restrictions on rodenticides that are risking a public health crisis, according to a study released Tuesday.

The report by political action committee Reform California cites recent rodent-related events over the past six months, including an employee at the Los Angeles Police Department contracting Typhus and a rat falling from the ceiling of a Buffalo Wild Wings onto the menu of a patron, as proof of an “undeniable problem” in the Golden State.

“California is being overrun by rodents,” said Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California. “Without immediate emergency action by state and local government, we face significant economic costs and risk a public health crisis.”

…The study also surveyed 23 pest control companies in California, and found that all of the reported that rat service requests were up almost 60 percent in the past year. Included in the study was a list of “rattiest cities” in the nation published by the pest-control company Orkin, which named Los Angeles as the second most rat-infested city in the nation behind Chicago.

Meanwhile, in Texas, a San Antonio veterinarian is warning pet owners and others to keep watch for and prevent a flea-borne disease after she became ill with typhus.

The disease has been on the rise in Bexar County over the past few years, spiking with 101 cases in 2018. There have already been 56 so far in 2019, with five more months left in the year.

“Well here in South Texas, flea season is year-round, but we do have fleas in the — more fleas in the summer,” Jaimez said.

Jaimez suggested pet owners ensure their pets stay flea-free using medications provided by a veterinarian. Though she also warned people without pets aren’t in the clear.

Finally, it is not only the Baltimore’s now famous rat that confirms Trump’s assessment of Congressman Elijah Cummings’s district is correct:

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