The seasonal changes in rat count are likely due to rat behavior, but do we have any evidence that the long-term change over the years reflects an actual increase of rats rather than more people using 311 to report them?
When the weather is colder in NYC, there are fewer rat sightings. But don't be fooled -- it's not because there are magically fewer rats, but instead likely due to several confounding factors such as being darker more often while people are rat-watching, colder weather driving rats to stay indoors more often, and more rain/snow/slush making the furry rodents harder to spot.
trash (rats' food source) is usually picked up twice a week in most places in the city, it never lines up perfectly to 'half-way through the week', and sometimes the 'other' collection is 'just recycling' (less organic matter to feast on)
I'm guessing the most frequent submitters send consistent reports when they can see rats on their block going after the trash (twice-ish a week); if more people in different areas reported as consistently, it might even out (some places have trash pickup monday, some tuesday, some wednesday...) (assuming all areas have equal concentrations of rat)
I live in Brooklyn and we have seen alot of construction around our block, which has also led to more rat sightings and a huge jump in trash can/bag attacks from hungry rats.
I was once standing outside a night club in Brooklyn, next to a construction site, when a rat came charging around the corner being chased by a cat. The rat smacked straight into my ankle and bounced off, briefly stunned. The cat also froze, trying to take in the situation. A split second later they charged down the sidewalk into the gloom.
The rat was so big my ankle hurt the rest of the night.
When my wife lived in NYC she was walking home one night when there were an unusually large number of rats running around. She noticed that Fred Armisen (actor, comedian) was walking down the middle of the street next to her, and he looked at her and said something to the effect of "What's with all these rats?!".
I don't think I ever saw a rat on my dozen plus trips to NYC, but since moving here several years ago I have seen more than I can count. Many of those were in 2020 when I would see large groups (5-10) roaming around at night in search of dwindling food sources.
Who is responsible for picking up a dead rat in NYC? The biggest rat I ever saw was a dead one on William St and as an alien I wasn’t really sure what the protocol was. No one else around paid any attention to it.
That would be DHMH[1] or Sanitation, maybe. You may be able to put a report in via 311, but I wouldn't count on a timely response (unless you count "a bigger rat eats the already big rat" as a response).
Readit News
I'm guessing the most frequent submitters send consistent reports when they can see rats on their block going after the trash (twice-ish a week); if more people in different areas reported as consistently, it might even out (some places have trash pickup monday, some tuesday, some wednesday...) (assuming all areas have equal concentrations of rat)
All my life living on the river around Boston I saw them all the time. And man they were the big ones.
I have added nothing to the discussion.
The rat was so big my ankle hurt the rest of the night.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Department_of_He...
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