They’re Not Going Away

By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN -- Rats in the streets, rats in vacant or torn up lots, rats in the parks.

Maybe it’s all that construction going on, or maybe it’s an increase in garbage – but Brooklynites are becoming increasingly aware that we share our borough with thousands, if not millions, of rats.

And in spite of urban legends claiming that there’s one rat for every human in the city, nobody knows just how many rats there are.

There are no current surveys or studies that track the number of rats in Brooklyn or New York City, according to the City’s Department of Health (DOH), which maintains a “Rat Information Portal� that lists findings from Health Department’s rat inspections. The most recent data of inspections following complaints is from 2007.

Rats are not being comprehensively tracked because “Rat populations are constantly changing due to neighborhood remediation, city agency enforcement, baiting treatments, and trash and garbage conditions,� a DOH spokesperson told the Brooklyn Eagle.

The Health Department responds to all rat complaints by inspecting conditions causing infestation, the spokesperson said. “Rats are attracted to food, garbage and conditions conducive to nest and breed. The property owner is informed of those violations and conditions causing the rat problem, and is given anywhere from five days to several weeks to abate the violations. If the property owner does not address the violations upon a second inspection, the Health Department will bait and sometimes clean the property at the owner's expense.�

Making Us Sick?

In spite of the Health Department’s response to complaints, rats are not going away in New York City – and some experts feel the rats could be making us sick.

The Center for Disease Control & Prevention lists six diseases carried by rats, the best-known one being Leptospirosis.

Residents of rat-infested cities are at risk, according to studies carried out by researchers including Dr. Gregory E. Glass, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.

Dr. Glass says that while rat populations are changing, so are human populations. “It doesn't mean we don't try to get a handle on how our populations change,� he told the Eagle. The DOH approach “will never solve the problem, unless you define the problem as people complaining. It won't get rid of the rats in any sort of way.�

While researchers warn that rat-borne diseases are simply underrecognized by doctors – leptospirosis causes a range of symptoms similar to the flu or worse -- the DOH says that the city’s rats rarely transmit diseases to humans.

“In different parts of the world, rats and mice are associated with a range of viruses, bacteria and other dangerous organisms. However, Health Department experts have found that disease transmitted to people from rats in our New York City locale are rare,� said the DOH spokesperson. “Rat bites are also not very common. The Health Department responds to about 125 rodent bites per year, and most result from the mishandling of traps.�

“How do they know they are rare?� counters Dr. Glass. “These diseases are difficult to recognize, and in my experience physicians do not have a level of clinical suspicion to consider them a possibility. Consequently, they're underreported and misdiagnosed.�

Glass said he would have to see surveillance studies of a random sample of humans showing infection is rare before he would believe it. “Otherwise, I would be very dubious of the quality of their conclusions.�

Crawling With Rats

Reports suggest Brooklyn is crawling with the rodents. According to the DOH’s District Public Health Office (DPHO) for North and Central Brooklyn, residents say the rat problem is one of the most important quality-of-life issues they face.

The study found that Bushwick residents consider rats an inevitable part of their daily lives, indestructible survivors, unafraid of humans, and capable of attacking children.

It’s not just Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, however: Rats are rustling in the undergrowth of neighborhoods from Brooklyn Heights to Red Hook, from DUMBO to Coney Island. A rat inquiry put out on the Boerum Hill Yahoo group last week resulted in dozens of stories.

One correspondent said she has often seen them in the garden of a popular Atlantic Avenue restaurant. “I love [this restaurant], so I am not saying this to put them out of business. The rats most likely are back there because there are many restaurants -- but they are HUGE. Last time, I just left with my husband and so did two other people who were at the next table. I only eat inside at [this restaurant], never outside.�

“There's a lot of them in the abandoned construction site . . . on Schermerhorn near Nevins Street,� said another commenter. “I see 'em in broad daylight from my window. My downstairs neighbor says they are making the backyard of our building [adjacent to the construction site] unusable.�

Another correspondent told of a close encounter of a horrifying kind: “Most recently, I came home a few weekends ago after a trip to the Hamptons to discover a huge rat had gotten into my actual apartment! I live on the second floor of a four-story building. Luckily my neighbors were kind enough to come help me chase it out at 4 a.m.!�

Other commenters talked about the area near Borough Hall, where huge specimens make their homes and frolic seemingly without care.

“They’re the size of hamsters,� said one frequent visitor to Brooklyn Supreme Court. “I’m not joking, they’re huge.�

Another resident said, “At dusk earlier this week I saw several fearless rats on the plaza in front of the old [1950s] New York State courthouse, near the statue of Henry Ward Beecher.�

They’re Here Because of Us

For the most part, the rats are here because of us. The recommended several strategies for addressing the area’s rat problem, including reducing food sources for rats around apartment buildings by more effectively storing garbage and educating residents.

Brooklyn’s relentless development is also partly to blame. DPHO points out that real estate developers are currently not required to conduct pest control and extermination activities upon starting new construction projects, disrupting colonies of rats.

Jon Crow is part of the Brooklyn Bears Garden on Flatbush Avenue and Pacific Street. “All the empty lots where RATner has torn down buildings in his non-project area are teaming with rats,� he complained in an e-mail. “Every time he tears another building down ... they displace them and they end up in his new blight-making lots.�

DPHO recommends collaborating with the Department of Buildings to require developers who fund new construction to be held accountable for rat-related problems.

Responses from the Boerum Hill Yahoo Group

Sunday night just after 10 p.m. I waited with a friend at the bus stop in front of the Atlantic Avenue 24-hour laundry, and another young man was leaning against their window. I saw a rat running down the sidewalk toward him, but before I could warn him, it scurried right over his (bare) sandaled feet. He jumped, but shrugged it off, and we three had a nice conversation about rats thereafter.

Tonight, returning from the A-train shortly after midnight, I saw rats leave a black plastic bag and descend through the metal grill in the sidewalk right across from Building on Bond Street. And I have noticed many other rats lately. As for “causes,� I actually think the unusually high rain flow in June and July has flushed them up out of the combined sewer/storm drains. (They do live in the drier parts of the system, and also swim when need be.) But as we also have far fewer stray cats than we did in years past, their impact on the rat population has undoubtedly contributed. And yes, I've seen a cat take down a rat. Perhaps we should let more outside cats breed. (Oh, I know, that will raise the ire of the pro-neutering crowd.)

At dusk earlier this week I saw several fearless rats on the plaza in front of the old (1950s) New York State courthouse, near the statue of Henry Ward Beecher.

We’ve had some interesting rat involvement over the years, although not in months so I’m hoping the rat’s nest is gone.

I have three cats who would periodically bring in what I thought were large mice. This would happen in spurts every thee months or so. Usually three or four critters would arrive every few days over a couple of weeks. They were generally dead by the time they were placed at the foot of my bed. I began to notice that the later arrivals were appreciably larger that the first and decided to Google differentiating rats from mice. Sure enough my “gifts� fit the weight category of six week old rats! This rat’s nest would have been (I’m hoping it’s gone) in the back yard area bounded by Nevins, Bond, Bergen and Wycoff. I have a lot of Ivy in my back yard and was encouraged by neighbors to get rid of it as it is a well-known refuge for rats. It’s still there and there have been no rats in quite a while. My thinking was that because the rats were delivered dead that they did not come from my yard but from far enough away to have died on route. My cats always prefer to bring in their prey kicking and screaming! I’ve often wondered if composting can be a source of food for rats.

If any more baby rats show up I’ll let you know. And what about raw compost as rat food possibility?

I live on Pacific St. between Flatbush and 4th Ave, across from the Bears Garden and across Flatbush from the buildings that were torn down to make way for Atlantic Yards.

I frequently see many rats on my block, especially (but not limited to) garbage nights, and there are often many that run in and out of the large furniture warehouse on the corner of Pacific and Flatbush. They're quite large and bold and I often have to walk in the middle of the street and stamp my feet when I come home at night to avoid them.

My block association has taken measures toward reducing the number on our street but I still see them quite often.

Most recently, I came home a few weekends ago after a trip to the Hamptons to discover a huge rat had gotten into my actual apartment! I live on the 2nd floor of a four story building. Luckily my neighbors were kind enough to come help me chase it out at 4 am, but it was quite horrifying to say the least!

There is construction going on behind my building, and there are also big piles of garbage on Dean St near Fifth Ave (also behind my building) where I often see rats even during the day. And of course all the Arlantic Yards demolition going on across Flatbush has made the situation a lot worse. More details:

When I got home, I kept hearing strange noises that I thought were coming from the hallway or upstairs, eventually I realized they were coming from behind/under my wardrobe... I thought maybe it was a mouse (even though I'd never had any problems with pests of any kind inside my apartment before-- and I've lived here for 7 years.) Still not knowing if anything was actually there, I enlisted the help of my very kind and brave neighbors to come down and listen with me, and it wasn't until we saw it emerge that we realized it was a huge, disgusting rat! It climbed up a pole and ran across my shelf with my toaster / dishes before running out my door, down the stairs, and up and over my neighbor's baby stroller before going out the front door.

I'm still horrified and have been having bad dreams about it! I think it got in through a hole in the ceiling that was around a pipe that comes into my apartment from upstairs, maybe it somehow got into the crawl space between my and my neighbors apartments? And then crawled down the pipe? My landlord had an exterminator come in the next day to patch any holes he could find and he seemed to think that's where it came in from too. I'm hoping nothing like that happens ever again...!

We have them in the house...what do you recommend?

I see rats frequently in the neighborhood – especially on Pacific Between Smith and Boerum Place on my way to the Gym early in the morning.

Since you ask about rats, there's a lot of them in the abandoned construction site (that is, work has been stopped for months, but the big equipment is still there) on Schermerhorn near Nevins St. I see 'em in broad daylight from my window. My downstairs neighbor says they are making the backyard of our building (which backs up onto the construction site) unusable.

I was walking home a few weeks ago from the subway stop at Atlantic-Pacific and walked down to Dean headed toward Nevins. There was a nice brownstone on the corner a couple of houses in with a little lawn in front. I heard something rustling as I walked, and thought is was a squirrel, I looked. It was a big rat.

I have also I am sorry to say, seen them in the garden of [Atlantic Ave. restaurant] often. I LOVE [this restaurant], so I am not saying this to put them out of business. The rats most likely are back there because there are many restaurants - but they are HUGE. Last time, I just left with my husband and so did two other people who were at the next table. I only eat inside at [this restaurant], never outside. I am sure that whole strip of Atlantic has a rat problem. And the ones I have seen there are HUGE.

My wife and I have frequently seen rats coming out of [Smith Street restaurant’s] backyard area and the driveway next door on Butler street (at Smith) at night. I live on Butler. See for yourself.

Saw one running along a wall at the Pacific Street Playground.

Yesterday evening I walked down the stairs of the East Broadway subway station to the F train platform. On the last flight of stairs I saw a rat coming toward me. We both stopped halfway, perhaps 2 steps away from each other. The rat was big as a house, and it was just him and me. After a few moments I pressed myself against the handrail and the wall, hoping the rat would just continue walking up the stairs, which indeed he did, except that he squeezed himself between me and the wall. I let out the loudest scream you ever heard as I was completely terrified. The rat promptly turned around, passed between me and the wall again and ran back down the stairs. On the last step he stopped, turned around and headed back up again, directly toward me. He had somewhere to go and I was in his way. I am not making this up. I let out another scream which I fully expected would bring out the Homeland Security folks. Again, the rat turned and ran down the stairs, this time onto the platform. I saw him heading toward a bench where some four people were sitting, calmly chatting. Surely they heard my screams? But neither the rat nor my alarm phased them in the least: when the rat was in front of them they simply lifted their feet in unison and let him pass. I was never so happy to see the train arrive.

As a matter of fact....the was a big dead one in front of my house on Sat. . . . Haven't seen many in our area of Pacific and Bond.

Plenty on Pacific Street between Nevens & 3rd.

Usually in P.S. 38's garbage; my Jack Russell Terriers flush them out 3-4 times a week.

I think it’s much better than it was where I am, Warren and Smith. Two summers or so ago, it was The Attack of the Army of Rats. This summer I haven’t seen one yet. There used to be an empty lot on the corner right at the subway entrance, which was full of them. I’d see them running from the lot to the subway down the stairs like any other commuter and vice versa. The lot is now under construction, so you’d think they’d be running all around, displaced from their homes, but as I said, not a one. Maybe they’re all in the subway.

I'm part of the Brooklyn Bear's Garden, there on Flatbush and Pacific. When the deconstruction was closer it was madness around here with rats. It's gotten a glitch worse recently, and we've been seeing critters in RATner's lots. They never did any baiting as is required during any of their deconstruction... but then not playing by the rules is what we've come to expect from them. We can't wait for his project to fail so that a real community plan like UNITY can grow out of that mess.

All the empty lots where RATner has torn down buildings in his non-project area are teaming with rats. Every time he tears another building down, or they dig around the yards, they displace them and they end up in his new blight-making lots.

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