let's go into the jungle
there's probably 2030 rats this is like
a nightmare it looks like one of those
rat Kings you know where all the rats
are their tails tangled up together and
so they just grow as one there's
probably a nest
directly under here yeah ever since the
first colonists set foot in Manhattan
New York City has been losing the war on
rats rats are everywhere they're in the
parks they're in sewers they're in the
walls of people's buildings but now
thanks to a 2.9 million dollar program
that targets rats neighborhood by
neighborhood era de Blasio is expanding
a city of rat removal program the war on
rent is on it looks like the city is
finally starting to make a dent in the
rodent population the program enlists
rodent experts to track rats to their
nests then date and poison them the
effort also involves outreach and
community awareness so residents dispose
of food properly and call the city to
report rat sightings
it's nothing revolutionary it's just
about persistence I'm Adrian Jeffers for
motherboard and we're talking to Matt
fry who is an urban entomologist with
Cornell University's integrated pest
management
he's also really good at hunting rats
what's a day in the life of a New York
City rat like when they first got up
there hungry and in New York City there
is no shortage of food for rats because
they eat primarily garbage
they're called commensal rodents which
means that they share the same table as
us they feed on sort of the scraps of
our society and so in New York City
there's an abundance of food each year
the city produces about 14 million tons
of trash they're also looking for water
so standing water is preferred for rats
and they need shelter as well which
they're probably already in the nest so
when you're looking for rats in New York
City what are you looking for well we
would look for areas where we see rodent
burrows because they are an animal that
lives in soil how many rats is a typical
burrow typically it could be about eight
they're very cryptic they tend to stay
in the shadows they come out and dawn
and dusk they are very well adapted to
avoiding predation in New York the
subway system provides a great wintering
habitat for them that infrastructure
makes it very difficult to control the
rat population it's 8 o'clock
this is the time to see that this is the
time the last time I was down at the
park where we're going I went to
determine if there was still activity
there and it was lots of burrows lots of
active rodents running around great
let's go meet some can we get some rest
so we're here at Columbus Park which is
in Chinatown in New York City and we're
about to see a hell of a lot of rats and
nobody here seems to really care let's
go into the jungle
oh they're all over here we're standing
here at one corner of the park there's a
group to my left playing mahjong totally
oblivious to all the rats getting to my
right this right here though is like a
tale of two trash cans this is the new
one this is the old one what's the
difference if you're red well as you can
see with the older type of garbage cans
this is open and a rat could easily get
into there the one behind you completely
closed system so obviously this is a lot
more expensive yeah this is like a solar
powered trash compactor this is ideal
for reducing food for rats this is what
we have in most parks how many rats do
you think are in this park probably a
couple hundred this guy something
happened to his tail so he's grooming
his tail now they groom a lot right they
do groom a lot oh there's a dead rat ah
whoa that's horrifying what happened to
it
they do baiting here so this guy may
have succumb to rodenticide
okay so there's maggots instead this
dead rat right fairly soon this will you
know just a little wobbly yeah there are
rats all over rats everywhere all around
us so here we have some of the burrows
there's a there's a healthy male rat
they just keep coming out so this is
like just a bunch of burrows and the
ground is completely uneven back here
and there just like swarming in and out
of them
exactly here's a dropping here that's
great a rat turd that's good we're in
the rat pit right now oh my god all the
juveniles in here this is like a
nightmare there's probably an s directly
under here yeah Oh God how many rats are
there in New York
that's probably an impossible question
to answer some people say there's one
rat for every person which is definitely
not a possibility at that point they
would just take over
exactly it's more likely that there's
several hundred thousand rats living in
New York City what would happen if the
rat population went completely unchecked
they contaminate our food we could
expect droppings in restaurants they're
carrying ectoparasites that can vector
pathogens to humans and cause disease
problems they're really a public health
threat
I think we would see a lot of
infrastructure problems since they chew
on wires we might see more electrical
outages that could have devastating
consequences and even their burrowing
behavior can collapse sidewalks creating
cavities underneath where we walk that's
crazy
so if you had to make a bet right now
humans versus rats who's gonna win who
would you bet on I think as long as
there's gonna be humans there's gonna be
rats and probably after humans there
will still be rats okay let's do this
we're gonna open the lid of every trash
can in this Park until we find a rat
we're gonna check the trash can that I
put some tasty Chinese food in and I
tried a little bit of it first I know
it's good hopefully the rats took the
bait
all right they're all around it yeah Oh
God
jump out right over her hand so it's
like 10 o'clock at night we're wrapping
up at the park here in Chinatown and we
saw a ton of rads I'm feeling like
there's a delicate but balanced
ecosystem in this park where we've got
the humans who are very comfortable here
and the rats were very comfortable here
and it definitely doesn't seem like
they're a species that has had war
declared on them by the mayor but who
knows maybe in a few weeks there will be
more baiting more trapping and we'll
start to see the population in this park
decline along with the population in the
rest of the city rest well rat yeah too
much yellow oh whoa everywhere yeah yeah
you know I'm ready pack they're not
afraid of anything