Chicago residents race to restore beloved 'rat hole' after pavement was filled in

The people of Chicago were outraged when an infamous indentation in the pavement, resembling the outline of a rat, was filled in on Friday.

The so-called "rat hole" has become a social media sensation over the years, showing the outline of claws and a tail where a creature is thought to have scuttled across wet cement.

When residents on West Roscoe Street spotted the landmark had been "fixed", they were quick to use a brush and water to scrub the shallow hole to get it back to its rightful state.

Transportation and Streets and Sanitation officials told the Chicago Tribune the city was not behind the 'fill-in'.

Tributes, including plastic flowers, a prayer candle, small toys, a pack of cigarettes and coins lay next to the resting place of Lil Stucky or Chimley, names given by some in the neighbourhood to the animal that once lay there.

But locals were quick to overturn the work of the mysterious hole-filler.

One Chicago resident, Winslow Dumaine, said the imprint was thought to have been there for nearly two decades.

Mr Dumaine learned about the "rat hole" from a friend and posted a photo earlier this month of it on X, formerly known as Twitter. The photo drew more than five million views, he said.

"I think at the end of the day, the rat hole is a silly thing, but the thing that made it so viral was the fact that thousands and thousands of people were in on a big, sweet, heartfelt joke," Mr Dumaine told the Tribune.

"Chicago prides itself on all of the things that make Chicago difficult, and no matter how much Chicago hates rats, they love rats," he added.

"It’s a part of our culture."

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