Soon after we decided to have Chris Faraone write about Boston's rat problem for this week's cover story, we realized that we would need a picture of some Boston rats. Sure, we could just have someone draw a rat, or dip into the vast depths of clip-art hell, but ultimately, we wanted to someone to snap a photo of a Boston rat in the wild.

In his unparalleled exposé on the plight of urban vermin and those of us who live among them, Rats author Robert Sullivan describes one scene in which a woman is viciously attacked by rodents during the 1979 New York City garbage strike. The Phoenix also collected some revolting rat tales.

KENMORE SQUARE, FALL 2007 A local marijuana advocate reports that his girlfriend’s car has had its battery cables chewed by furry critters.