PETA's New Baltimore Billboard Says There's Two Types Of Rats: The 'Rich Pest' And 'Poor Guy Just Trying To Survive'
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — PETA is at it again with a billboard in Baltimore.
After reports that Jared Kushner owns several apartment buildings inhabited by rodents in Baltimore, which President Donald Trump called a "rat and rodent-infested mess"-- PETA is going to place a billboard in the city that "drives home the difference between a 'rich pest' and a poor fella just trying to survive on crumbs."
The rich pest is pictured as a man sitting on a pile of cash. The "poor guy" is a little rat holding a piece of cheese.
The animal right's group took the Baltimore-Trump Twitter war of words as an opportunity to advocate for the "hungry little visitors" who they said must be humanely dealt with.
"Everyone deserves HUMANE rodent control," The tag on the bottom reads.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk released a statement Wednesday:
"It's a landlord's responsibility to rodent-proof buildings humanely by providing sturdy trash containers, clearing overgrown weeds, and sealing the holes that hungry little visitors use in their search for the delicious food that they can smell cooking. If over-privileged landlords neglect humane rodent control, renters pay a price and rodents—who are smart animals and good mothers and who can certainly suffer—pay the highest price of all: being killed for just trying to survive."
They also offered these tips for humane rodent control:
- Johns Hopkins University researchers who studied rat populations concluded that the only way to control the population effectively is to reduce the amount of food, water, and shelter available. Maryland law states that removal of animals must "employ the most humane method" available.
- Put all food and garbage in sturdy, well-sealed containers that rats can't chew through, and feed animal companions indoors (and pick up the dishes when they've finished eating).
- Trim back vegetation around buildings, stack wood in tight piles away from the house, and seal holes larger than a quarter inch in diameter, cracks in the walls and floors, and gaps around doors, windows, and plumbing.
- After rat-proofing the building, live-trap and remove any rats still inside. Use a commercially available Havahart trap or make your own. Check the trap hourly, and release any captured rats within 100 yards of where they were caught.
PETA has stirred up Baltimore's billboard space in the past, one went up last August telling Marylanders to quit crabs.
PETA Puts Up Billboard Urging Marylanders To Stop Eating Crabs
Jared Kushner was brought onto Baltimore's radar after reports that he owned several apartment buildings in the Baltimore and Baltimore County area-- and that many of them were infested with mice and rats.
President Trump's Son-In-Law Jared Kushner Owns Baltimore-Area Properties, Some Of Them Have Mice
These buildings were said to have various livability issues, including failures in inspections and complaints about the pests.