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SCIENCETuesday 20 October 2015
Rat race: NYC boost efforts to control rodent population
MICHAEL BALSAMO In this Jan. 27, 2015, file photo, a rat crosses a Times Square subway platform in New York. mantle habitats and food
Associated Press Associated Press sources. That effort includes
NEW YORK (AP) — To many setting traps, installing ro-
in New York City, the rats top financial officer, who battle for decades say ris- snowfalls, and registering dent-resistant trash cans
are winning. has taken on the self-ap- ing complaint numbers complaints is easier now and working on legislation
The city’s complaint hot- pointed role of rat czar. In don’t mean there are more with the city’s 311 com- that would require restau-
line is on pace for a record separate audits over the rats, and they argue the plaint line smartphone app, rants to hose away sludge
year of rat calls, exceeding past two years, he has criti- rat population has actually said Caroline Bragdon, a from dripping garbage.
the more than 24,000 over cized the city’s health de- been holding steady the city’s health department Every little bit helps, Brag-
each of the last two years. partment for not respond- past few years. scientist and resident rat don said. Unlike the vora-
Blistering audits have fault- ing quickly enough to rat A Columbia University expert. Bragdon’s team re- cious Pizza Rat, she says,
ed efforts to fight what one complaints, and the Metro- doctoral student using sta- sponds to such complaints, most rats need only an
official called a “rat crisis.” politan Transportation Au- tistical analysis last year compiles a citywide “rat in- about an ounce (28 grams)
And even jaded New York- thority, which runs the sub- estimated the number of dex” and inspects dozens of food and water daily to
ers were both disgusted ways, for not cleaning sta- rats in the city at 2 million, of buildings each month. survive. “It’s an apple core,
and a little impressed by tions more regularly. Such claiming to debunk a pop- What started as a team it’s a piece of a hotdog,
“Pizza Rat,” the plucky ro- breakdowns, he says, have ular theory that there is one of less than a dozen has a couple of chips. It’s the
dent in a recent viral You- allowed rats to thrive. rat for each of the city’s 8.4 now expanded to nearly crumbs,” she said. “You’d
Tube clip seen dragging a “I’ve seen rats walking up- million people. But scientists 50 people, working with much rather prevent rats
large cheese slice down a right, saying, ‘Good morn- and city officials say it’s im- a nearly $3 million annual from being here than treat
subway stairwell. ing, Mr. Comptroller,’” he possible to accurately esti- budget to implement the them with poison after
Nora Prentice, who lives on said. “It’s unsightly to see mate the number. latest push to control ro- they’re here.”
Manhattan’s Upper West rats running through neigh- The spike in complaints of dents. City health inspectors reg-
Side, has repeatedly com- borhoods like they actu- rat sightings and conditions Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new ularly scour the city, pok-
plained to the city about a ally bought a co-op some- attracting rodents is proba- “rat reservoir” plan targets ing into sewer grates and
colony of about 200 rats in where.” bly because garbage was communities with the high- crawling under park foli-
a neighborhood park. New York officials who left festering on sidewalks est number of rat com- age, searching for the signs
“It’s like the Burning Man of have been fighting the during last winter’s large plaints and seeks to dis- many would never notice:
rats,” she said. “They’re just tiny mounds of dirt that
sitting there in a lawn chair lead to an underground
waiting for you. . I don’t rat burrow, streaks in walls
know what the city can do about an inch off the
about this rat condomini- ground left by greasy fur,
um. It’s really gross.” or tiny holes the critters can
Prentice said that she crawl through.
avoids the area because “Here’s a big burrow, and
of the rats and that com- it’s fresh,” Bragdon said dur-
plaints she filed with the city ing a recent inspection of a
were closed after officials small park in Manhattan’s
told her they were “working Chinatown neighborhood,
on the problem.” notorious for its rat problem.
“It means you can’t lay As she pointed to the hole,
down and relax in that a furry little head popped
park,” she said. “What kind out, revealing one of the
of an answer is this?” newest generation of New
Such gripes have found York City rats.
an advocate in Comptrol- Bragdon greeted it: “Hi,
ler Scott Stringer, the city’s mister.”q
