Dogs, most of them terriers, eagerly pull on their leashes before diving into garbage cans. A few seconds later, they come out with a rodent between their teeth.
“They are trained for it. They live for it“, says Richard Reynolds, head of the RATS association, acronym of the Ryders Alley Trencher-fed Society”.
New York rodents are famous: popular wisdom has it that the first American metropolis has as many rats as there are humans (more than eight million). The city regularly tests new techniques to neutralize them, such as dry ice or alcohol baths.
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At the start of the pandemic, federal health authorities warned of possible “unusual and aggressive rodent behavior“, the closure of restaurants and offices having deprived them of food.
This did not deter the volunteers of the association. Their nocturnal hunts have simply become less frequent.
– “Super powers” –
Their technique: dogs with short legs, like hunting terriers, flush out rodents in the middle of the trash bags that pile up in the evening on New York sidewalks, or in the bushes.
Dogs with longer legs, such as Bedlington Terriers, step back the better to pounce on them when trying to escape.
“It’s a bit like the X-Men“Says 36-year-old dog trainer Alex Middleton.”Every dog has superpowers.”
To flush out the rats, some, like Reynolds, 77, first hit the trash cans with a metal bar, while Middleton squarely throws his burrow, named Rommel, straight into the trash cans.
“Go ahead, Rommel, catch it!the group shouts. Moments later, after a few squeals, Rommel, with a bloody mouth, emerges with a rat, cheering the hunters.
Dead rodents are picked up by the tail and thrown into a cloth bag, then counted at the end of the tour.
Sophia Pierce, who joined RATS with her dachshund Lita a year ago, remains unmoved by the rodent slaughter.
“We get used to it. People who see this for the first time are more sensitive than us“, she says.
It all started in the 90s: Reynolds was at a dog show in a park in New Jersey when his dogs started killing rats. A park employee asked him if they could come back, RATS was born.
The association intervenes at the request of residents troubled by the presence of rats in their neighborhood.
New York City Hall does not support his methods, believing that dogs are at risk of contracting leptospirosis. But since they do not violate sanitary rules, it does not prohibit them either.
“Sometimes when we make too much noise, we are thrown a can of beer, but most of the time we are welcomed.“, this Reynolds.
Kayla Callender was delighted to see RATS hunters intervening recently in her neighborhood near the Williamsburg Bridge.
“It makes a big difference“, she says. “I appreciate“.
But Stephanie Bell of the animal rights organization PETA rants: For her, these tours are “archaic, depraved and illegal.”
– “Another world”
For Reynolds, killing rats with a dog is no more cruel than putting rat poison or sticky traps.
Michael Parsons, rat expert at Fordham University, likens these beatings to the pose of “bandages on cancer“Limiting food waste and the amount of garbage is much more efficient,” he says.
Reynolds acknowledges that RATS does not significantly decrease the New York rat population, but believes nonetheless “bring something to society”
The association provides DNA samples for university research, and frozen rats to a local raptor rescue center.
As for the volunteers, they are delighted to see their dogs develop their hunting instincts.
“We fight against pests, but that’s not really what we’re here for. We are there for our dogs, so they can train“, this Reynolds.
Kim McCormick, a paramedic who drives six hours from Connecticut on these tours, also enjoys the camaraderie within the group.
“It’s a different world, a whole different way of meeting people. We work together and the dogs are really amazing together“, she says.
After three hours of stalking, Greg Conception, 54, lines up the evening’s catches on the ground: 26 rats.
