
Dispatches from the Rat War: DOS bins fall to ‘chisel-like’ incisors, but all may not be lost

WILLIAMSBURG – THE RATS HAVE scored another victory in their long-running campaign against Mayor Eric Adams and other city residents, according to the New York Post. Residents in Williamsburg discovered a hole in one of New York’s allegedly rat-proof new trash bins that appeared to have been made by rodent teeth, after just a few weeks on the street. Experts say, though, that while concerning, the gnawing may actually represent the success of the city’s strategy.
“It’s confirming the concern that this is not going to prevent rats from being a problem,” Berry Street Alliance founder Shannon Phipps told the Post. “It’s basically rendered useless […] This is a mandated trash can that was advertised as a ‘rat-proof can’ being gnawed through.”
Expert Michael H. Parsons, however, said, “Evidence of rodents chewing through garbage cans is not necessarily a bad sign. It means the animal is stressed and exposing itself for long periods of time against predators and conspecifics, just to get sustenance. This means the best food source has been contained. So the garbage bins are doing their job! Just keeping the cup half full!”
The use of covered bins was mandated starting in November of last year, as part of the Department of Sanitation’s ongoing attempts to reduce rodent activity. With trash stored in containers instead of on the street in plastic bags, rats don’t have access to their previous “trash buffet.”
A spokesperson for City Hall told the Eagle that the efforts of rat czar Kathleen Corradi had resulted in a sustained 4% reduction in rat complaints to 311 over the course of her tenure, prior to the deployment of the bins; another spokesperson told the Post that rat sightings fell 23% in December 2024 compared to 2023.
✰✰✰
Leave a Comment
Leave a Comment