In Nelson, it was the skunks and raccoons, depending on how late you were up.
In Vancouver it's the rats. Late at night, after work, step outside the hostel - and - blind now to the misery of the staggering and teetering drunks and junkies you begin to see them.
Big as gophers, swarming underneath the dumpsters, running across the street - rats. There must be a rat-king under the dumpster in the alley, they're forever coming and going, huge, 3 or 4 at a time, the next plague is gestating here...