An unusual debate is intensifying in France's capital, Paris: are rats enemies or neighbors? The city's deputy mayor, Grégoire Moreau, says we should not fear rats, but rather look at them with respect.
To personally lead by example, he goes to work and to the market with a rat named "Plume" on his shoulder. According to Moreau, the reputation of rats has been unjustly tarnished since the time of the plague. They hardly spread disease anymore; on the contrary, they help eliminate street waste.
However, not everyone agrees. The mayor of the 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Boulard, who calls himself a "fierce enemy of rats," criticized Moreau's opinion as "fantasy."
