New York rat complaints surge as city returns to normal
- Rat and mouse sightings made up the majority of the complaints in Brooklyn, followed by Manhattan and Queens
- Commercial areas in the city are also seeing more rodent activity as people begin returning to offices
As New Yorkers get back on their feet after a year of the pandemic, so are the rats that survived a once-in-a-generation food shock.
The number of rodent complaints to a city hotline in March surged by 80 per cent to 2,906 from last March, when calls dipped as New York City went into lockdown and indoor dining closed.
The number is also higher than pre-pandemic levels. A total of 2,395 complaints were made in March 2019, according to New York City’s 311 service requests data.
Rat and mouse sightings made up the majority of the complaints, though there were also calls concerning signs of rodents or their bites, and conditions attracting these pests.
The most complaints were in Brooklyn, followed by Manhattan and Queens. The city’s data contain duplicate complaints, as multiple calls could be made about the same situation in a short period of time.
“As things open up more, you will have more and more food availability,” said Benjamin Hottel, an entomologist at Orkin, a pest control subsidiary under Rollins Inc. that noticed a jump in rodent control service calls in New York City during the spring.