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☆ NYC has a new weapon against rats but it's still probably not enough to stop the impending rodent takeover.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Maiya Focht | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rats tend to avoid reproducing in cold weather, Jason Munshi-South, a biologist and associate professor at Fordham University, told Insider. "It's going to be an issue," Munshi-South said, "especially in northern cities like New York City. Rats on the rise Efforts to control the rat population have highly mixed results. AdvertisementAdvertisementBy running his own surveys with exterminators around the city, Corrigan concluded, "there are more rats. In previous years, it would've been cold by then and rats would've stopped reproducing," in NYC, he told Insider.

Persons: it's, Jason Munshi, Munshi, Robert Corrigan, Corrigan, we'll, would've Organizations: Service, Fordham University, Anadolu Agency, Royal Society B, Guardian Locations: York City, New York, Anadolu, New York City

☆ What if all the rats in NYC died tomorrow?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"You can find newspaper articles going back decades that mentioned the war on rats in New York City," Munshi-South said. With abundant garbage available to them, city rats might not go after wildlife in the same numbers. However, if all rats in NYC died tomorrow it would still save a lot of animals like birds, coyotes, foxes, and feral cats that die each year from rodenticide, the poison used to kill rats, Munshi-South said. Mary Altaffer/APAs scavengers, rats likely play some role in helping remove garbage from city streets and distributing seeds, Byers said. In her research, "we found that folks experienced a number of mental-health impacts from living alongside rats," Byers said, including stress and anxiety.

Persons: —, it's, Kaylee Byers, Jason Munshi, Munshi, Denis de Marney, Byers, Mary Altaffer, Wolfram Steinberg, we're Organizations: Service, Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Fordham University, The New York Times, they've Locations: North America, York City, It's, British Columbia, New York City, Norway, East Coast, Iowa, , New York, rodenticide

☆ NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful — for now
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New York City's new rat-killing method has wiped out rats on a strip in the Upper East Side. The method involves pumping carbon monoxide into rat burrows, ultimately suffocating the rodents inside. Still, it will likely take a lot more than that to take out New York City's rats for good. Munshi-South said similar methods have been used in the past, including with dry ice in parks in lower Manhattan that had hundreds of rat burrows. The carbon monoxide method can also only be used in a well-ventilated, outdoor area to avoid poisoning the person applying it or other people, Munshi-South said.

Persons: —, Matt Deodato, Jason Munshi, Deodato, Munshi, they're Organizations: Service, Urban Pest Management, Fordham University Locations: York, York City, New York, Manhattan, New York City

☆ Eric Adams Has the Chance to End the Forever War on Rats - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Jason Munshi-South | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who often uses public appearances to reiterate that he “hates” rats, hired a rat czar this year dedicated to exterminating them. As rat hater in chief, Mr. Adams has continued the long “war on rats” that New York City mayors have waged for decades, with limited success. I’m an urban ecologist who’s studied New York City rats for 12 years, and I can say that the way the city and its residents have tried to exterminate rats, through traps and poisons, has been both ineffective and unnecessarily brutal. Today’s New York still has filthy streets, plus population density and aging infrastructure, making it a perfect home for its rats. City agencies have heavily relied on using rat poison; in 2021 alone, they applied over 60,000 pounds of rodenticide poisons.

Persons: Eric Adams, “, Adams, who’s, Kathleen Corradi Locations: New York, New York City, Today’s, York

☆ New York has tried poison, traps, and birth control to fix its pest problem. Rat researchers say the city should focus on its people instead.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

New York City has a pest problem so prolific, the mayor hired a dedicated rat czar earlier this year. Previous efforts to reduce the rat problem include brutal traps, poison, and birth control bait. The city has historically focused on population control methods, including brutal spring traps and hazardous poisons to keep the pests at bay. AdvertisementAdvertisementParsons previously told Insider the "real city rats" are "the men and women of bureaucracy and their two-and-a-half centuries of bad practice." To really have fewer rats, New York norms of takeout and eating outside would have to change."

Persons: Eric Adams, that's, Kathleen Corradi —, Department of Education —, Corradi, Jason Munshi, Michael Parsons, Parsons, Munshi Organizations: Service, New York City, Big Apple, Waste, Department of Education, New, New York Mayor's, Department of Sanitation, The New York Times, Fordham University, NYT Locations: York City, Wall, Silicon, New York

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