‘If it’s cold, they stop mating’: New York City rat population may be on the decline

‘If it’s cold, they stop mating’: New York City rat population may be on the decline As a result of New York’s most severe winter in years, the city may see a drop from it’s estimated 3 million rats S ince arriving from Europe in the 1600s, New York City’s rats have survived hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks, riots, fires, a pandemic (they actually thrived during that), the Dutch and Crocodile Dundee II . But as a result of New York’s most severe winter in years, when the city saw snow, then a historic deep freeze, then even more snow, the rat population might now be about to decline. For a bit. “We would anticipate a drop in the number of rats in the spring,” said Bobby Corrigan, a renowned rodentologist who has worked with cities around the world to control rats. “If they’re outside rats living in a park or something, and it’s cold, they stop mating,” he said – resulting in fewer rats than usual come spring. An estimated 3 million rats live in New York, or one for every three people, and for many residents they represent a constant menace: rustling around in trash bags, bursting out from basements to scurry across sidewalks, or stoically wrestling a gigantic slice of pizza down some stairs. They originated in Mongolia and northern China, Corrigan said, so the grown ones are well equipped to deal with the cold. He said rats will stock up on food in their subterranean burrows, creating “little pantries” to sustain them during extreme cold. It’s just the nookie that they refrain from. “It’s just too dangerous to have a litter of 10 pups who don’t have fur. When the mom goes out to get some food, they’re subject to hypothermia,” Corrigan said. “So the smart thing is: don’t have a litter.” The city has spent years, and millions of dollars, attempting to reduce the rat population, including by appointing a rat czar (the czar stepped down, after two years, late last year). And after decades of impasse between rat and human, officials are finally seeing some success. ...