Pests and Prejudice: Ten Stories of Unrequited Love

society, culture, science, life · EN-US

Have you ever wanted to end a relationship because someone loved you too much? It's a tricky question, especially if that person really, really loves you. And especially if that person is a pest. In Spring of 2026, a group of UCLA undergraduates set out to understand the relationship between people and pests: Mosquitoes, pigeons, squirrels, fruit flies, boll weevils, carp, sea urchins, zebra mussels, sparrows, even dogs. What these students realized is that "pest" is in the eye of the beholder, it's all about context, because, well, relationships are complicated. Pests are just animals who love us, a lot. Or at least, they love us for what we've given them: fields and farms, cities and skyscrapers, stagnant waters and warming ones, cotton and fruit. We invited pests in, but then they loved us too much, and now we want out. But how do you break up with an entire species? You can't just ghost a pest, you have to go all in: killin