Rats are back in parts of New York City like Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. This is based on information pertaining to the number of complaints registered with a city hotline in March. It reveals a surge of 80 percent when compared to the same period last year. Obviously, the administration has to evolve measures to tackle the problem. When Coronavirus struck last year, it had a direct effect on normal life in New York City. It led to closure of restaurants and bars and suspension of indoor dining. The city went into lockdown and the rat population, that depends on the waste generated by restaurants and other similar outlets, lost a dependable source of food.
However, the menace is back in action. A media outlet says the number of complaints in March was higher than that before the pandemic. An entomologist says: “As things open up more, you will have more and more food availability. There will be a higher pressure for the restaurants with rodents as their businesses increase.” NYC had waged a war against the rats as far back as July 2017.
Daily Mail UK explains that areas that wore a deserted look during coronavirus are now returning to life. Commercial premises and businesses are open and the rodents have returned. The pests have become more active. During the pre-pandemic days, they used to rely on the garbage dumps near eating joints but the pandemic forced them to locate alternate sources of food.
In fact, they became violent and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued warning about thus aspect.
New York City sees rats during daytime also
The activities of the rodents usually increase after darkness falls but the coronavirus created a situation where they began to venture out into the open in broad daylight.
That too in residential areas. The reason was availability of food and wastes. However, once normalcy returns, they could go back to their regular routines. Daily Mail UK adds that this is not unique to only New York City but is a global phenomenon.
The rats had to identify alternative source of food
Daily Mail UK goes on to add that the pandemic forced the rodents to look around for alternatives.
They had been relying on restaurant throwaways and suddenly that stopped. It turned into a crisis that threatened their survival. An urban rodentologist describes the new breed of rats. He likens them to humans who wage wars to preserve their territories. He says: “A new 'army' of rats come in, and whichever army has the strongest rats is going to conquer that area.” In March, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made an announcement regarding increase in the number of trash collections.
Food shock for rats due to coronavirus
According to SCMP, rodents in NYC suffered the shock of their lives when coronavirus robbed them of their food. It was a once-in-a-generation food shock. An entomologist associated with a pest control setup says: “As things open up more, you will have more and more food availability.
There will be a higher pressure for the restaurants with rodents as their businesses increase.” Most of the commercial areas in the city wore a deserted look as the pandemic spread and people had to observe the safety protocol to prevent infection. That forced the rodents to locate other sources of food and they made their way into residential areas. Here the food and waste generated was more because people had adopted the work-from-home culture. In the opinion of experts, this is a passing phase. As the city returns to normal, the rats would migrate back to the food sources of restaurants and offices. In September 2019, NYC had plans of introducing alcohol to control the ever-growing menace of rats.
