Is the Rat War Over?

"Rats were leaving Manhattan, hurrying across the bridges in single-file lines. Some went to Westchester, some to Brooklyn. It was the pandemic, and the rats, which had been living off the nourishing trash of New York's densest borough for generations, were as panicked about the closure of restaurants as we were. People were eating three meals a day at home, and the rats were hungry."

"P. and her husband thought that they would find a way to coexist with the rats; that's the kind of people they are. Some neighbors of theirs, who had been passing pandemic evenings on their stoops, spoke of seeing "a huge patriarchal rat" making its way into the crevices of the retaining wall of P.'s front garden. P. and her husband replaced the charming old wall with a solid slab of concrete."

Rats moved out of Manhattan during the pandemic, crossing bridges to other boroughs as restaurant closures reduced food sources. Reported sightings rose to twenty-five thousand in 2021, more than double 2010 levels. Residents observed organized rat parades and large individual rats, leading some households to alter landscapes and fortify yards. One family found rat feces on furniture, escalating efforts to eliminate infestations. Common poisons can be ineffective and risk creating decaying carcass problems in tunnel networks. Homeowners experimented with multiple mitigation strategies while balancing attempts to coexist with persistent urban rodents.

Read at The New Yorker