Here is a terrific little video by Assignment Earth on New York rats. It features State Senator Bill Perkins, Rodent Expert Stephen Frantz, and a lively cast of street rats. Frantz clearly and knowledgeably makes the point that NYC’s rat problem is caused by humans and can be solved by humans. The message is simple: cut the rats’ food supply, and the population will plummet. This means changing the way we manage our garbage.
The latest in rat control is a practice known as Integrated Pest Management, an environmentally sound approach to pest control. The goal is to eliminate rats and other undesirables by controlling environmental factors (available food, water and shelter) that lead the animals to enter and thrive in habitats where they are not wanted – like homes, playgrounds and subway stations.
The 96th Street and Broadway station offers particularly fine rat viewing.
And why not? There’a a perpetual source of food, water and shelter.
Why, there’s one of the little fellows now.
I’m surprised he doesn’t take his meal over to the lunch room.
Lunch Room
Meanwhile, over on Riverside Drive and 112th Street, Rat Palace continues to provide the perfect habitat for countless rodents. In the dark and grainy video below, rats slither in and out of the stones of Rat Palace, a pile of cobblestones on NYC’s Riverside Drive. If you think you saw something move…you did. The rats were everywhere. The strange sounds come from Esau the dog, who was eager to grab and kill.
Rat Palace at Night is best watched full screen (try double clicking on image to go to full screen, then click escape to return).
Enjoy.
For more on how our garbage creates our pests, see articles from Out Walking the Dog’s archives:
Dirty Harry Dog Cleans Up NYC Streets
Feeding Wild Animals: Squirrel Man Calls to His Friends
Of Rats, Red-tails and Rodenticides
How Many Raccoons Live in Manhattan, Anyway?
If You Build It, Rats Will Come
The Hills Are Alive … with Rats
Out walking the dog 