Rats - I think they're here to stay

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We have heard that because of the Station Fire, which destroyed parts of the Angeles National Forest, there might be more wildlife coming into our neighborhoods. The first invasion is an increase of RATS!!! Yick. Every morning I find evidence of their night patrol on my deck. I live in the flatlands near the foothills in Sierra Madre - which, in this context, means that there are streets with upward inclines just around the corner, leading up to wilderness. A house at the very edge of the wilderness, which I rented for three years was inundated by mudslides last spring - from rains following an earlier fire.
Glad I wasn't still there.

As for wildlife moving in - months ago on a morning walk with my two labradoodles, we met a coyote wandering down the middle of the street - at 9:30am - not far from our City Hall and Police Station. When I mentioned this to a policeman a few blocks further on, he shrugged, "they're everywhere, any time of the day."

So, we share our suburban idyll with earlier residents, whose environs we have invaded and often overwhelmed.

But, I still don't like to find rat droppings decorating my garden relentlessly, every morning.

I posted this recently, but it got lost in cyberspace. I am still learning how to blog within blogs. :)
Meantime, I visited our local hardware store. The array of poisons, traps, remedies to eradicate rodents fills a ten-foot shelf.
But, all the cautions, warnings, and disclaimers almost made me decide to let the rats have their way in my garden.
I brought home bait traps filled with little blue pellets. MaeRose, the smarter of my dogs, stationed herself below the ledge where I had secured the trap. Even though it was four feet above reach, she smelled something. She is persistent, so I
thought better of my efforts. It took fifteen minutes to re-trap every little blue pellet, making sure none fell into the garden.

So, this morning, I can see that the rats had another picnic in my garden. More power to them.