As New Yorkers emerge from the pandemic, so do the rodents...
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They crawled to the surface as the coronavirus pandemic roiled New York City, scurrying out of subterranean nests into the open air, feasting on a smorgasbord of scraps in streets, parks and mounds of curbside garbage. As diners shunned the indoors for outdoor dining, so did the city’s rats. Now city data suggests that sightings are more frequent than they’ve been in a decade.
Through April, people have called in some 7,400 rat sightings to the city’s 311 service request line. That’s up from about 6,150 during the same period last year, and up by more than 60% from roughly the first four months of 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. In each of the first four months of 2022, the number of sightings was the highest recorded since at least 2010, the first year online records are available. By comparison, there were about 10,500 sightings in all of 2010 and 25,000 such reports in all of last year (sightings are most frequent during warm months).
Whether the rat population has increased is up for debate, but the pandemic might have made the situation more visible. With more people spending time outdoors as temperatures grow warmer, will rat sightings further surge?
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https://apnews.com/article/rats-new-...01b1ea866973a1