New York City announced a $32 million, multi-agency plan on Wednesday to reduce its rat population.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the plan will target rats in the Grand Concourse area of the Bronx; Chinatown, the East Village and the Lower East Side in Manhattan; and the Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant areas of Brooklyn.
By September, the city will start installing solar compactors with rat-resistant openings and replacing wire waste baskets with steel cans. It also plans to cement basement floors in public housing. Proposed legislation would regulate the hours garbage could be left at the curb, and increase fines for illegal dumping.
In February, health officials said one person had died and two others were severely sickened in a Bronx neighborhood due to a rare disease transmitted by rats.
The city’s rat battle is far from new. Experts say it’s impossible to accurately estimate the number, though they say efforts in recent years have greatly reduced “active rat signs.”
In 2014, a Columbia University doctoral student using statistical analysis estimated the number of rats in the city at 2 million, claiming to debunk a popular theory that there is one rat for each of the city’s 8? million people.
That year, the Health Department piloted a “Rat Reservoir” program in six sites in Manhattan and the Bronx, targeting colonies and conditions conducive to rats in sidewalks, catch basins, tree pits and parks, in addition to buildings. In 2015, funding for the program was increased by $2.9 million.
“While New York City has made important strides to curb the rodent population, it’s clear more needs to be done to significantly and permanently reduce the scourge of rats across the five boroughs,” City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said.
(AP)
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3 Responses
Proposed legislation would regulate the hours garbage could be left at the curb, and increase fines for illegal dumping. Watch the video of the mayor speaking. No mention of killing the rats with poison. Of course not , because then he won’t be able to impose new regulations and fines. What a sick minded liberal. PETA loves you.
If killing rats was so easy and just a matter of putting out some poison, there is no question that the city would rush to do it, and in fact probably not have to spend as much money either. Before you rush to speak (or comment,) you should make sure that you know what you are saying.
Rats are very hard to kill. They have better instincts than other animals (mice and cats for example.) Putting out too much poison is dangerous because it could kill cats, birds, and even people, and still is ineffective against rats because they won’t touch it. Plus they are very hardy creatures and can survive ingesting more substances.
No doubt they already put limited poison in subway tunnels and other inaccessible safe locations, but the also need to do whatever they can to reduce their spread into human-occupied areas.
Another thing to consider is that in the sewers and tunnels where they live, there isn’t as rich of a food supply as the human garbage dumps. Our garbage is where they get more food and the ability to multiply. Reducing that could therefore control their growth.
to yitzyk You sound like an activist for PETA. Poison does work. About 15 years ago the house I lived in had rats the poison got rid of them. Where I live now I had rats six years ago, again poison got rid of them. This past winter my block was overrun by rats until we got an exterminator who baited the area with POISON. Presto, no more rats.