Oh, rats! As New Yorkers emerge from pandemic, so do rodents
Mayor Eric Adams is hoping that padlocked curbside garbage bins will help spiff up streets and keep rodents away from trash.[Nestor Galina / CC BY 2.0]
NEW YORK (AP) – The deepest fears of some New Yorkers are crawling to the surface as the metropolis continues its recovery from the pandemic.
As diners shunned the indoors for outdoor dining, so did the city’s rats in numbers that data suggests have been the highest in more than a decade.
As conditions improve, both populations are rebounding. So far this year, people have called in some 7,400 rat sightings to the city’s service request line.
That’s the most ever for the first four months of the year. Mayor Eric Adams is hoping that padlocked curbside garbage bins will help spiff up streets and keep rodents away from trash.