High-rent district. (The Labj's: L.A. Stories).

Seems humans aren't the only creatures that love the huge estates and palm trees of Beverly Hills. Every year, as the temperature warms and the days lengthen, Beverly Hills experiences an increase in its rat and rodent population.

In fact, dealing with rats is such a pressing issue in the wealthy city that an article on the topic appeared on the front page of last week's Beverly Hills Courier, under the headline, "Spotting Rats in Beverly Hills."

But this being Beverly Hills, the rats found must be a little more discriminating than those in other areas. Sure enough, the article says, the dominant species of rat in Beverly Hills is the fruit rat or roof rat, which is several inches smaller than the Norway rat found in certain "inner city" neighborhoods.

So why are these rats attracted to Beverly Hills?

For the same reasons that the millionaires and billionaires are, it seems.

"They just love the huge back yards," said Frank Hall, chief of the vector management program with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. "You've got all those nice lawns and bushes. And you've got lots of food for the rodents there."