Rats aren’t only a part of New York City’s underground — they’re an inseparable part of its pop culture. There’s Master Splinter from the Ninja Turtles, Pizza Rat, and even Cannibal Rat. But for every celebrity rat, there’s another 250,000 to 2 million anonymous rodents living in the city — and the city health department is fighting to bring down.
The battle can be deadly. Last year, three people in a Bronx city block contracted leptospirosis through rat urine. Only two survived.
To combat the problem, Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a $32 million initiative to rid New York of its signature rodents, concentrating on hyper-infested areas that the city describes as “rat reservoirs.”
Multiple city agencies are currently focusing their efforts around public housing buildings, where they plan to replace dirt basement floors, block passageways and amp up trapping, baiting and poisoning efforts.They also apply dry ice to the rats’ burrow systems, effectively suffocating them as the carbon dioxide gets released while the ice melts.
But if all else fails, a small group of dedicated rat hunters are ready to step in.
When dusk settles, Richard Reynolds and his vigilante rat hunters known as “The Ryders Alley Trencher-Fed Society” — or R.A.T.S for short — roam lower Manhattan’s streets and dumpsters, keeping their dogs’ instincts sharp and the hunting tradition alive.
In the three decades Richard has been hunting rats with his dogs, he says he must have killed thousands of rats. But he doesn’t really keep track.
A hunter through and through, he only counts the ones that get away.
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20 Comments
Rat sightings have reportedly exploded in New York City, according to the New York Times. http://bit.ly/2W1K3iU
This is nuts
In onethousand years the rats show this to their kids
The city needs to fund them cuz we need 50 more like them to control the rats 🐀
Rat virus -> dog virus -> humans
This is how new viruses emerge.
Pay new Yorkers $5 per dead rat carcass. Their $32 MIL could have gotten rid of over 6 million rats at that rate…
Lol wear gloves Jesus
Peta
Bro said 'cabeza crunch'💀
LOL the deathly screams at the rat hahaha bro its just a rat but we have legs
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV, Jesus Christ is the only way
6:01 Crunch🐶💢🐭🐁🐀🖕
I like how they found a reporter with zero testosterone 😂
Let the RATS have that shifty ass city!!!best thing that could happen to it.ITS TRASH!!!people left in droves because it's trash🤣🤣🤣🤣😄🤣
رخوم ولا واحد فيهم تجرا ودعس عليه
seriously reporter guy is a legend, he is down for anything to report on.
I live in the UK and have a terrier dog 🐕 and oh boy does she love catching those narsty creatures🐀🐀🐀🐀 she would fit in well with that group of dogs Lol 😂😂🤣😅
Those dogs probably lick their owners all in their mouths or sleep in their beds, eww.
I wanna give all them dogs a treat!! 😁😁
They're doing the job no one wants to do