Rats in NYC: The city goes to battle against ‘reservoirs’ where the vermin breed

Midway through a walking tour of a rat-infested few blocks on the Lower East Side, Caroline Bragdon stopped at a modern office building. With trimmed bushes, a clean sidewalk, and no trace of trash, it did not appear to be a safe haven for rats.

A deeper look inside a wood planter sprouting a trail of vines, however, revealed a telltale hole — a rat burrow.

That discovery served to underscore a point Bragdon, a rat expert with the Health Department, had made earlier: Given shelter, a nearby food source and water, the city rat finds a way.

The city has embarked on an aggressive new pilot program that targets so-called “rat reservoirs” where the rascally rodents congregate and breed like mad. Unlike previous efforts to control rats, this one focuses on neighborhoods and blocks. So far, a patch of blocks near Avenue B and Second Avenue on the Lower East Side is the first to be targeted under the over $600,000 program.

The city has also tentatively identified parts of the Bronx near Yankee Stadium and the Grand Concourse, as well as sections of Northern Manhattan to be targeted.

Health officials say the city handles about 20,000 rat complaints and 100,000 rat inspections a year.

Here’s what else we learned about how the city is identifying and working to drain rat reservoirs.