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Rats? They’re not our problem.

While dealing with these pesky rodents may seem just the bane of big cities and landfills, that’s actually not the case.

Like cockroaches, rats have thrived for millions of years, which suggests their ability to adapt has prevailed over any human attempt to eradicate them.

Acknowledging their presence constitutes the first step in at least managing their impact.

But as that familiar disclaimer warns, past performance in containing them is no guarantee of future results.

That’s what Boston city councilors have discovered.

A recent hearing of that board convened to specifically address this recurring rat issue.

City officials, who reiterated that they bait for rats in areas where they’re concentrated and collect trash multiple days a week, said people can try to head off rat problems by picking up dog poop, not having any standing water outside and tightly securing their trash.

Sounding the inevitability — if not the futility — of revisiting this public-health threat, City Councilor Kenzie Bok, who chaired the hearing, noted that “human beings have been waging war against the rats among us for millennia.”

Readers of this newspaper with short memories might surmise that ravenous rats remain just Boston’s problem.

However, at last week’s Lowell City Council meeting, rodent woes also were a heated topic of discussion.

Councilor Rita Mercier said those pests have infiltrated Lowell’s residential neighborhoods. She even made an emergency motion requesting that City Manager Tom Golden address the rat problem in the Middlesex Street neighborhood surrounding the Department of Public Works yard.

“I’ve seen them. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Mercier said. “I don’t know where they’re coming from, but it was rather frightening.”

Councilor Erik Gitschier not only seconded Mercier’s emergency motion, but also her concerns, complaining that the irregular pickup of residential trash by city contractor Waste Management was a contributing rat factor.

Christine McCall, the Department of Planning & Development director and assistant city manager, noted that her department had recently contracted with a company to develop a pest-control plan.

McCall said the city’s working with Modern Pest Services to deploy “smart boxes,” which are placed in known rodent areas. Attractants lure rats into the box, exterminating it efficiently and without any toxic pesticides.

So, while it appears rat infestations thrive in inner cities, suburbanites would be naive to believe it can’t happen in their neighborhood.

Because it’s already occurred.

Locally, the rat-control problem first reared its ugly head in December 2018. That’s when the newspaper detailed how rodents routed one Shirley family from its home.

Eric and Lindsay Calderwood and their three young children sought refuge with relatives in another community after all their efforts to rid their dwelling of voracious rodents failed.

The Calderwoods’ predicament wasn’t an isolated case. Other residents of nearby neighborhoods also experienced similar problems.

Town Administrator Michael McGovern ended up bringing together a “rat patrol” that included Board of Health members, the district sanitarian and an exterminator to walk the neighborhoods, where the problem was isolated to a few properties.

Soon after the Shirley episode, another rat magnet — chicken coops — caused a sudden rodent surge in one Chelmsford neighborhood. Town Meeting solved the problem by involving the Health Department, which implemented stricter regulations on keeping chickens and other small animals. Chicken owners either got rid of their birds or met the new requirements.

Piecemeal approaches won’t solve the rat onslaught.

Individuals can complement their municipality’s efforts by taking a hard look at their own refuse footprint and securely placing garbage in closed containers.

And if they see a messy dumpster, report it to the local health authority.

And get used to it. This rat race likely has no finish line.

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