[EVG file photo]
From NPR:
When Caroline Bragdon, a rat expert with the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, walks through the East Village, she's not looking at the people or the storefronts. Her eyes point down, at the place where the sidewalk meets the buildings and the street. "If you look really carefully, you can even see their hairs," Bragdon says, pointing to a little hole in the sidewalk next to a sewer grate. "When we see something like this, what we say to each other is, 'This catch basin is hot.' You know, 'This is ratty.' "
By that measure, this is one of the hottest neighborhoods in New York City. And it's one of the testing grounds for the city's new "rat reservoir pilot" — an initiative to try to reduce the rat population in neighborhoods with chronic infestations. Part of the plan is to hire extra exterminators and to seal up holes in sidewalks, parks and other public infrastructure. Rats can squeeze through the tiniest opening "in doors, in windows, in sidewalk curbs, in any building infrastructure," says Bragdon. "Rats only need a hole or a gap the size of a quarter to enter."
Woo! Maybe we can think of some other 'reservoir pilots' for the neighborhood!
Read/listen to the full report here.
H/T EVG reader Andréa
What about the proposal to put birth control in the traps? That seems like the most humane way to decrease rat population.
ReplyDeleteWas going to say the same thing.
ReplyDeleteThat; and enforce the "no feeding" laws. (of course that's never going to happen)
Wish someone would go after the frat bros and hos with this kind of zeal in an attempt to exterminate them from the neighborhood; I find them far more offensive and off-putting than rats, who are actually quite pleasant creatures under certain circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI second this
DeleteOur building had a huge infestation last year. They ate the entire back of my favorite leather jacket, and chewed their way through the plastic lid of my fish sauce. Thankfully, exterminators sealed the basement and placed traps and the problem was eliminated. They were coming from the cemetery on East Second St. East first street and East 2nd street between 1st and 2nd Ave are completely infested. That is where they should start.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy hearing the female 20 somethings scream when they see a rat, otherwise I hate hearing them scream.
ReplyDelete@anon 1:35 makes my point from above. The cemetery is infested because of the people who throw pound after pound of old bread and other food in there to feed these "poor" creatures.
ReplyDeleteSolve the mental health problem = solve the rat problem.
As I said; never going to happen.
That rat looks mad! Did he miss the "soft opening" of Yum Yum! Hut! Hut!
ReplyDeleteSuddenly the city discovers rats in the EV. Wonder how that happened?
ReplyDeleteI think we are approaching this problem from the wrong side!!! The fratboys and sorostitutes don't like rats???? In stead of trapping them we should start feeding them!!!
ReplyDeleteSend in more adorable hawks.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 2:24 said:
ReplyDelete@anon 1:35 makes my point from above. The cemetery is infested because of the people who throw pound after pound of old bread and other food in there to feed these "poor" creatures.
Solve the mental health problem = solve the rat problem.
As I said; never going to happen.
You know, it kills me that whenever I see someone flinging armfuls of bread scraps and cornflakes to "feed the pigeons and squirrels" (who really need it, of course) and I tell this person why they shouldn't be feeding the rats, they always get abusive to me.
"Well, you've never been hungry, I guess!"
Or, especially: "I wasn't feeding the pigeons, I was feeding the squirrels/I wasn't feeding the squirrels, I was feeding the pigeons." [You're feeding the goddamned dogs when you throw it on the sidewalk like that.]
I agree with @anon 2:24—and @anon 1:35—that to solve the rat problem, you have to solve the mental health problem. Never gonna happen.
MORE RATS!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is pledge week for Delta Pi RAT, lots of pickings at two am
ReplyDeleteHere's a potential idea GET RID OF THEIR FOOD SOURCE!!! Does it take a degree in medical science or public health to realize this necessity??? So here's an interesting proposal- you want to get rid of available parking on the island of Manhattan and look after public health than create a way to provide COVERED/ENCLOSED trash recepticles for the multiple dwellings that exist in the NYC area. Until such a program is enacted than NY will forever have a rodent problem other than that which exists in city government. Take away their food source, take away the problem
ReplyDelete"Starve A Rat" slogan was always the simplest logic. Everywhere I've lived it was obvious. Ever since the influx of the party goers in recent decades whom roam the streets from noon until 4 AM most nights the East Village corner trash cans are filled to overflow by 3 PM. That's an excess of edible waste not to be collected for another 18 hours. By midnight it's already a smorgasbord for rodents. Combine that with an already escalated rat population due to all the excavating for new real estate development. So, I second the idea that the bros & sorority gals are largely responsible. Their consumption of, and improper disposal of, take out foods all night up to that 4 AM, after-the-excessive-drinking, pizza/falafel run play a big part. And let's not even talk of that most delectable of rat feed - the stoop vomit from the over served. Yes, the bars play a big role in all this. And we know how responsibly they act.
ReplyDelete