Suburban Rodents

It has been a very long time since rats carrying diseased fleas spread the Black Death. Still, the prejudice against rats and other rodents remains strong. Case in point, my neighbor. Here in my little Royal Oak neighborhood, we share fences. Though I try to gain as much privacy as possible by strategically placing shrubs and vines, there is no denying that my neighbor's space is smack up next to mine.

Thanks to this brutal fact, I am painfully aware of my neighbor's predilection for murdering local rodents. Now, mice or rats in the house and garage are not welcome by even the most tender hearted of animal lovers. But, get this, my neighbor puts rat and mouse traps in his garden and in his flower beds.

Did you know, a squirrel doesn't die right away when he breaks his neck in a rat trap? I do. So does my neighbor, and he keeps setting traps in his garden and in his flower beds.

You tell me, who's the rat?