NYC forms 'Rat Pack' to take on rodents

With eyes peeking out from a hidden burrow in the grass, the creature quickly scurries toward a block that was buzzing with life just hours earlier. It's one of the nocturnal rulers of the street — rats — poised to attack the garbage in black plastic bags piled high on the sidewalks of New York City, awaiting pickup by sanitation workers.

Street garbage has become a daily banquet for New York's rat population. The city generates about 6.4 billion kilograms of trash a year, potentially feeding roughly 3 million rats. That's the number of rodents estimated in the city in a 2023 study.

Controlling the rat population in the city remains a challenge despite numerous efforts. In January, the city's Sanitation Department said New York was winning the war on rats, as rodent sightings in mitigation zones were down across the city.