New Yorkers squirming at new breed of cockroach

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand , center, listens as Emma Sulkowicz, left, a sexual assault survivor who attends Columbia University, reads a statement during a news conference attended by sexual assault survivor Wagatwe Wanjuki, right, who attented Tufts University, New York City students and college campus sexual assault survivors in the Senators Manhattan office on Monday, April 07, 2014. Sen. Gillibrand is launching a new effort to combat sexual assaults on college campuses, which studies show effect nearly one in five women in college nationwide. Photo Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara

A species of cockroach native to Japan that can withstand the city’s brutal winters has been discovered at the High Line, and some New Yorkers are already squirming about the pest.

“If they can live in the cold, this is going to get worse. We already have them in the subways, apartments, sewers and streets,” said Augusto Garcia, 19, a Bronx resident.

“I am kind of afraid of cockroaches, water roaches and water bugs,” he said. “They are disgusting. Anything like that: mice, roaches, bed bugs.”

Stephenie Genao, 23, also of the Bronx, agreed. “It’s disgusting!” she said. “I don’t condone killing any of God’s creatures, but who wants to live with more roaches?”

The sighting of the bug, which was found at the High Line last year, is the first confirmed appearance of the pest in the U.S., according to researchers at Rutgers, who recently identified the resilient bug as Periplaneta japonica.