Some Rogers Park Residents Can't Get Their Mail. Because Of Snakes.
By Mae Rice in News on May 18, 2016 8:11PM
Rogers Park has been named the most livable neighborhood in Chicago, but for some residents on the neighborhood's Chase Avenue, it's been anything but lately. They've been struggling to get their mail, due to a sudden garter snake boom and a postal service worker who is terrified of them, Fox32 reported. Some residents have only gotten two mail deliveries in the past two weeks.
In response, one resident has put up a sign declaring their yard a snake-free zone and begging for mail. Another resident, Lisa Yanny-Tillar, called the postal service to report the issue and was told to call animal control.
One Chase Avenue resident, Bill Hawkins, told Fox that he saw the mail carrier balking at some garter snakes and picked them up in an effort to help her—but she was nevertheless "freaked out."
Chicago's garter snake population often spikes around this time. (In 2013, CBS reported a similar spike in Bridgeport.) However, the snakes don't usually bring city services to a halt, and typically, they're thought of as less of a problem than Chicago's rats, which are such an issue here that the government has started pairing residents with rat-eating feral cats. Meanwhile, rats are hustling their hardest to infest every Chicago establishment, including a Lincoln Park urgent care facility.