Gentrification is being blamed for New York City’s rat problem, which has spiked almost 38% in the last few years.
Rat sightings reported to the city have risen from 12,617 in 2014 to 17,353 in 2018, according to data analysis by a nonprofit group and the New York Times.
Scientists and pest control experts have blamed the problem in part on gentrification, which forces rats from their homes and onto the street.
“We’ve seen rats the size of Cleveland,” Larry Jayson, the executive director of the nonprofit Housing and Family Services of Greater New York, said. “You’re unearthing and unleashing hell on those poor people who live next door.”
New York City’s trash problems also contribute to the problem. Bobby Corrigan, one of the nation’s leading rat experts, said rats love the city’s “plastic bag waste culture.”
NYC so loves its plastic bag waste culture… and so so so do the rats and the millions of ratties that have been born as a result. ???? https://t.co/GqHh1PNRN0
— Bobby Corrigan (@rodentologist) May 18, 2019
Mayor Bill de Blasio declared war on rats in 2017 with a $32 million plan, but so far, it has been a losing effort.
“There is no doubt that rats have a major impact on New Yorkers’ quality of life, and this administration takes seriously our responsibility to control and mitigate their population,” Deputy Mayor of Operations Laura Anglin said.
“No New Yorker likes having rats in their community, and we are committed to continuing the work of controlling rats in all of our neighborhoods,” she said.
The rise of the rat problem has not been unique to New York City either. In the nation’s capital, D.C.’s rat problem spawned a series of articles in Washington publications complaining about the problem.
Fox News White House Correspondent John Roberts even complained that he had mistaken a massive rat on White House grounds for a squirrel.
So – I am standing in our @FoxNews standup location on the @WhiteHouse North Lawn and notice in my peripheral vision something moving at my left foot. I assumed it was one of the ubiquitous WH squirrels. But no….it was a big brown rat.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) December 17, 2018
Last week, the Los Angeles Times blamed climate change for the increasing rat populations in cities, claiming that it could lead to the return of the bubonic plague.
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