City of Rats
By BRIAN RIES
Updated 11:33 AM EST, Tue, Nov 18, 2008
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the subways, you were dead wrong! The city is practically in the throes of a rat epidemic, reports the Daily News. Since launching a rat-tracking website two weeks back, officials are seeing higher than expected reports of rat sightings from around the city.
Hilariously, they're following the hipsters into Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Brooklyn Heights, as they're comparable lifestyles are attracting the rodents. It's not the skinny pants and love of irony that keeps them coming, rather the density of bars, restaurants, and all hours activity that favors a rodent's style of living. The Daily News spoke with a local resident who lives behind a Thai restaurant in Williamsburg, who supports that theory. "Everyone is out going to bars, restaurants and whatever. I see rats everywhere," Jessica Pfohl explained. "The rats probably never have time to find a good hole to relax in."
Following close behind Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Brooklyn Heights are a few other neighborhoods with their own rat problems. The Daily News found that Coney Island logged 95 rat reports, Park Slope had 156 and Sunset Park with 75. Bushwick/Ridgewood and Bedford-Stuyvesant had the highest rat sightings, with 770 in Bushwick and 595 in Bed-Stuy.
But, after all, the furballs are just another part of the city-scape, and it's one of those things that you either deal with or get out. A sanitation worker in Bed-Stuy, James Reed, agrees. He told the News "Rats don't bother me too much because you're going to see them everywhere you go, It's New York." Boo-ya.
Track your own rats at http://www.nyc.gov/rats.
First Published: Nov 18, 2008 9:17 AM EST
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