Rats Are Taking Over New York City

[mfcorey1]

So many rats regularly lurk on a sidewalk in Brooklyn that it is the humans who avoid the rats, not the other way around. Not even cars are safe: Rats have chewed clean through engine wires.

A Manhattan avenue lined with trendy restaurants has become a destination for foodies — and rats who help themselves to their leftovers. Tenants at a public housing complex in the South Bronx worry about tripping over rats that routinely run over their feet.

New York has always been forced to coexist with the four-legged vermin, but the infestation has expanded exponentially in recent years, spreading to just about every corner of the city.

“I’m a former Marine so I’m not going to be squeamish, but this is bad,” said Pablo Herrera, a 58-year-old mechanic who has counted up to 30 rats while walking on his block in Prospect Heights, just around the corner from the stately Brooklyn Museum.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rats-are-taking-over-new-york-city/ar-AABJp16?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

[msongs]

1. rats are edible I hear. solution at hand nt

[mfcorey1]

3. ewwwwwwwwww!!!!

[tonedevil]

8. Move 'em on, head 'em up...

Head 'em up, move 'em on
Move 'em on, head 'em up, rathide
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in
Ride 'em in, cut 'em out
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, rathide

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. Can you say Demolition Man?

Best burger I've had in years.

[customerserviceguy]

38. Rats-a-roni. n/t

[aikoaiko]

2. Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Cats of War

[kairos12]

36. Et tu Felix?

[TheBlackAdder]

37. Ben, we have a job for you in Washington, DC.

.


Eat all traitors.



.

[stillcool]

4. time to call in the cats..

[csziggy]

9. Or the rat terriers!

[Drahthaardogs]

10. Lol. Ever seen a cat take on a rat?

Most of them won't tangle with a rat. A rat puts up one hell of a fight and most cats won't mess with them.

On the farm the cats were all but worthless with rats. The little corgi? She gave them hell.


https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/contrary-to-popular-opinion-cats-no-good-at-catching-rats.htm

[TreasonousBastard]

16. I knew a guy who let his Doberman loose in his loft at night...

Every morning there were three or four bloody rats on the floor.

[stillcool]

18. no, I haven't...

ever seen a rat. I'm thinking a cat-gang kind of thing.

[Retrograde]

40. Cats tend to be solitary hunters

unlike dogs, who can form packs to take down prey.

My cats have caught mice and gophers (Western pocket gophers are mouse-sized) as well as insects. Mostly they're a deterrent: the rodents don't seem to come around when they can smell cat. They don't take on anything larger than themselves.

A pack of trained terriers, though, could take on rats without breaking a sweat. Or whatever dogs do.

[Mariana]

22. My dad had a big half-wild Maine Coon cat

that killed rats from time to time, and left them in shreds and pieces on the patio.

[John Fante]

26. Were they house cats? Domesticated pets tend to underestimate

their strength.

I've seen adorable little feral kittens annihilate sewer rats like they're nothing. They're superior fighters in every respect.

[Drahthaardogs]

28. Oh nonsense

They were barn cats and I just posted a study that basically scientifically supports what I observed on the farm.

We had a few tomcats that would kill rats and a few tabby cats that we're bonafide killers. Most were cowards and had no sack for tangling with a rat.

You have never seen a kitten kill a rat because a rat would kill a kitten and wat the damned thing.

Why do people try to bullshit people who know better?

[John Fante]

30. The article doesn't support a thing you said.

Can you read?

It said the cats tended to IGNORE the rats, while the rats tended to seek shelter upon seeing cats - out of fear. Nowhere in the article does it say anything rats killing cats or anything of the sort, only that cats generally prefer easier prey, but they'll do it if the circumstance is right.

[Drahthaardogs]

45. I said cats generally suck at killing rats

And the article said exactly what I said...

"why were the cats not more aggressive hunters? Probably because feral cats instinctively understand that one unlucky bite from a hefty 12-ounce (337-gram) rat could lead to a life-altering (or life-ending) injury. "


Rats are killers and will kill and eat gosling's, chicks, and even rabbit kittens.

You never saw a kitten kill a rat. Why are you making stuff up?

[Glimmer of Hope]

41. I saw a hawk nab a rat in Washington, D.C. and fly away with it.

Seeing a rat in the air was bizarre and disgusting.

[UniteFightBack]

5. I thought they had rat birth control. It's the best solution. nt

[Codeine]

24. They always forget to take it. nt

[BlueSpot]

33. For the win!

Best post in the whole thread.

[Ilsa]

42. The local clinic was shut down by Rude Guiliani and the rethugs. nt ;-)

[Luciferous]

6. So gross.

[Beakybird]

7. Give them cigarettes. They'll die young.

[customerserviceguy]

39. Funny you should say that

When I was living in NY, I was confronted by a subway rat, he tried to bum a smoke off of me.

I was so intimidated, I went to the nearest convenience store and bought him a pack. Good thing I guessed right on the menthol!

[Ferrets are Cool]

11. Oh, I thought you were talking about repugs.

[milestogo]

12. The biggest rat moved to Washington DC a couple of years ago.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Bring Trump back.

Even the rats will flee.

[Solly Mack]

19. I was thinking the same thing.

lol

[bdamomma]

34. good one

smirky

[jpak]

15. ...

[cynatnite]

17. When we vacationed in NYC one year, we were in awe and ick of the rats...

While waiting for the subway, we'd watch them scurry about the tracks. Yeah, we were obvious tourists. LOL

[maxsolomon]

20. Climate Change?

Mild winters allow rats to breed through the year.

Here in Seattle, which normally has winters without a night below freezing, I caught 2-3 rats per month in '17 & '18. So did my neighbors. It's a constant war; they run down the street at night, they run on the tops of the fences, they climb the cherry trees and eat all the fruit.

We had a cold snap this February that took the temp down into the teens. I haven't seen a rat yet this spring.

[appalachiablue]

31. Yes, in the article- milder winters, nos. also up in Chi., Phila., Sea, DC more

[TreasonousBastard]

21. Were they been? When I lived on West 69th St I used to see rats scampering around...

through the attached basements. When food was scarce they invaded the streets.

Working downtown a few blocks from City Hall in the '60s and '70s, I remember when some "revolutionary" assholes had their bomb factory on Park Row blow up, and since it was an odd corner property not worth rebuilding on at the time, it was just walled off.

Since it was full of garbage people threw over the wall, the rats eventually were estimate to be in the thousands, but no one dared climb over to count. Or get rid of them-- the city just put up warning signs. Eventually something was built there and they gassed the rats.

And don't get me started about the rats in the Fulton Fish Market.

Ever see the play "Rats"? I still crack up any time anyone says "New Rochelle".

[Chin music]

23. Wow!

[2naSalit]

25. Again?!? ...nt

[panader0]

27. Many years ago when I was bicycling on Maui with my buddy

we were picked up by Tallulah Bankhead in a convertible. Her driver helped
us load our bikes into the trunk. We drove up the road on Haleakala, a huge
volcano. Ms. Bankhead told us to camp in the bamboo thicket below her house.
Within a few minutes the rats appeared, hundreds lined up on the ground and
the leaning bamboo. I was scared. Large rats, hungry for our food box.
We left on our bikes, going downhill in the twilight. I went over twenty miles without
pedaling. Rats are big in Hawaii.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. I was going to say the rats have already taken over Washington DC.

[appalachiablue]

32. Even out to the burbs like I've never seen in many yrs. Icko

[sinkingfeeling]

43. I meant the GOP kind.

[appalachiablue]

44. Yes, and they're all bad