Rats are commensal animals that “share the table with people” and depend on people for part of their food and shelter. These intelligent animals thrive in urban environments that have plenty of food and people. Rats Love New York! In fact, New York is home to 25 million rats – about 3 rats per human resident! Rats use the city’s infrastructure such as steam tunnels and subways to navigate from place to place. (They’ve even been spotted riding the subway.) And like other New Yorkers, rats have their gripes. (Thanks David Letterman for an old but memorable Top Ten List.)
New York’s Rats don’t just live on the subway or under construction pits. Like the Jeffersons , Rats have moved on up to the East Side and practically everywhere else in New York City. Rats have conquered Midtown’s Grand Army Plaza, Alphabet City’s Tompkins Square Park and Collect Pond Park in Manhattan.
Do you think you’re safe even you live in a luxury high rise and don’t frequent city parks? No you’re not! In fact Dr. Robert Corrigan of the NYC Rodent Academy, and a world famous expert on rodents, points out the number one predictor of rats in an area of New York is multi-family buildings with elevators.