The City of Rats

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No one knows the exact number of rats in New York City, estimates of the problem vary. Although many say that New York City has one rat per person, others figure there could be as many as almost 100 million rats. In 2002, several experts estimated that for every person there are twelve rats. Considering that there were 8 million people, there were 96 million rats in the city of New York. But it was six years ago and the situation has been getting worse and worse since then.

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The city of rats

No one knows the exact number of rats in New York City, estimates of the problem vary. Although many say that New York City has one rat per person, others figure there could be as many as almost 100 million rats. In 2002, several experts estimated that for every person there are twelve rats. Considering that there were 8 million people, there were 96 million rats in the city of New York. But it was six years ago and the situation has been getting worse and worse since then. Rats and mice are present eveywhere in the City : in the streets, in train stations, in people's apartments, in schools. “New York City has so many people, so many restaurants, so much trash. This lifestyle that we choose has an impact on our environment,” said Bruce A. Colvin, a biologist. However, the situation has not always been out of control.In 1949, a rat expert from Baltimore trapped rats in New York to try to determine how many lived here. He estimated there were 256,000. At a so-called rat summit held in 2000, several speakers noted that federal and city programs kept the rat population in check from World War II until the 1980s. "New York was the model for the country,” wrote Jenny Laurie, from the group called West Harlem Environmental Action. "Restaurant owners and landlords were required to dispose of garbage properly and to keep sidewalks and basements in good repair. The rat population was well under control." But in 1981, President Ronald Reagan cut federal aid to cities, and mayors from Edward Koch to Rudolph Giuliani reduced the Department of Health’s allocation for pest control from $18 million in the ‘70s to $5 million in fiscal 1999. With the city facing this budget cut, the rats came back. In just a year, one female rat can produce 285 new born rats and after few weeks they are already roaming around the city. It is a well known infestation problem that New York City is trying to decrease but our own bad habits make matters worse. Food left behind and carelessly dumped garbage cans serve as rat magnets.

It is exactly what Anthony Johnson, a cleaner working for MTA between 103rd and 116th station, try unsuccessfully to explain everyday. He keep telling to customers not to eat or throw their food on the plateform because the rats smell it and come on. “But they don't listen,” he says. “They are too lazy, they are sitting on the bench and throw their garbage underneath.” These advice are yet useful. Rats are not really scared of humans and they can be very reckless. Johnson recalls that years ago, someone had a scare in Brooklyn. A woman was sitting in a bench, eating food when a rat smelt it and climb on her leg. “She screamed and fortunatly, the rat didn't bit her,” he says. Johnson has been working for MTA for 12 years and always tap on the canisters before opening them up, so that the rats run out. Even if Johnson is used to see rodents, he avoid the confrontation. “When I seen them, I move to the side and let it walk by,” he explains.“I won't block them off because if they see they are trapped, them might attack.” Rats can be aggressive and there were more than 150 recorded bites last year. For those people who are exposed to them at work, they have to wear protection. “So far, I've been safe,” explains Johnson. “I follow the rules and I haven't been bitten yet. As long as you keep the gloves and the boots on, you'll be ok,” he says. However, rats can carry many bacterial diseases, such as salmonella and leptospirosis, and can be hosts to disease-carrying pests, such as ticks and fleas. There is some evidence as well that asthma can be caused, or at least exacerbated, by rodent infestation. "If the presence of a grizzly bear is the indicator of the wilderness of an area, the range of unsettled habitat, then a rat is an indicator of the presence of man," wrote Robert Sullivan in Rats: Observation on the History and Habitat of the City's most unwanted inhabitants. The problem is that rats doesn't live only in subways station, they are everywhere. Nine months after the rats of taco bell, attention turned to rats in city parks last year, particularly in City Hall Park. The city has tried to shift the emphasis from poisoning to depriving rats of their food. This has included advising people not to feed pigeons and squirrels because rats enjoy the leftovers and trying to enforce sanitation rules.

The most important reason of the rodents infection in New York is the bad management of public garbages. The black garbage bags used are a nightly banquet for rats, it exacerbate the problem. Putting trash in a metal trash would keep the food away from hungry rats. “No one should have to live with rats," the New York City health department says on its website, but the city received more than 30,000 rodent complaints last year, according to the Mayor's Management Report. If the city has a problem with rats, mice are also a big issue. “last day, I was coming out of the bathroom and one was climbing up to get in done into the garbage,” says Jared Owens, 24, who lives in East Harlem. The number of mice he has had in his apartment is getting in a double digit. Like the rats, mice can be adventurer “I have always read and I heard that mice don't really explore beyond like 10 foot radius but these one do,” he explain. “They are really smart.” Despite the glue and traps that have been set, the situation is still hard to handle. Mice avoid the non-show traps so Jared has elaborated his own trap in his room. He put a snap trap down inside a cereal box with some cereales into the bottom. That way, when he caught a mouse, he only has to lift up the box without seing it. “that was sort of a 'no fuss, no mess' clean up thing,” he says. But traps are apparently not enough. “We keep doing things here to combat the mouse problem. And I feel that it's getting worse the longer I have lived here,” he says. Some areas in Manhattan are sadly notorious because of their rodent infection. In the West Side, 109th street between Broadway and Amsterdam is called the “Rats Roll” because many rats rolling the streets are seen during the night. A few blocks further, Broadway Exterminating tries to offer solutions to pest infection. Apart the usual traps, they also sell ultrasonic device. Rodent only hear a certain kHz frequency and it is possible to buy a little box that bombard that frequency. “It's a very effective method. It bother them a lot,” says Lugi Laurie, the manager of the company. The method works as far as there is not wall, since it works as the sound works. One box cost about 20 dollars and cover one room. “It's doesn't eliminate them for good, but it helps to keep them away,” says Lugi.

The manager is still realistic. “NYC has so many people that live so close to one another that it's almost impossible to get rid of pests,” he says. Moreover, rodent can be really strong and not every method works. For example, MTA hire exterminator at leat once or twice a month to put rat poison down on the tracks. But it's not always strong enough. “It can make them sick, they would walk on the plateform and be crazy for a while before it kills them,” says Johson. “The don't die right away, it take days.” "You can bring a trainload or boatload of rodenticide into the city," Edgar Butts, who works on environmental health for the city, told the New York Times. "But as long as you have food and harborage, you'll have rats." The mice and rats problem has became a serious and urgent issue in New York. “Every single time I see a mouse, it startles me a little bit,” says Jared, who emphazise the incoherent relation with housing price in the City. “In my mind, it doesn't make sense for me to work really hard and pay the rent if I have a place that is not clean and free of pest.”

— Jessica Bordeau

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