In New York, the number of rats has exploded with the pandemic, to the point of becoming a tourist attraction that even has its own guided tour. Believing that the authorities are not taking the problem seriously enough, some residents have decided to take matters into their own hands.
Like all big cities, New York is invaded by rats. So much so that the mayor appointed a “Madame Rats” to tackle the problem and stop the multiplication of rodents. Different solutions are being studied, but that does not stop some residents from taking matters into their own hands.
“There are rats and it’s a problem. So we hunt rats, the dogs love it, and so do humans,” said Richard Reynolds, founder of the Ryder’s Alley Trencherfed Society, which hunts rodents, in Wednesday’s 12:45 p.m. in the evening with his dogs.
There are more than two million rats in New York. Videos showing rodents in action are multiplying. Additional motivation for urban hunters, like Alex Middleton, dog trainer.
“Every rat we catch is one less rat on the street,” he explains.
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Effective treatment
But that evening, the field was rather slim. The municipal services put poison and destroyed the burrows. In this neighborhood, the rodents are gone. But Richard Reynolds, who has been hunting them for 36 years, has no illusions.
“The food is still there so the rats will come back. They reproduce. We can come back in six months and everything will be like before,” he says.
Remove trash bags from the streets
Getting rid of rats is a good start, but New York must treat not the symptoms but the disease itself. That is to say this habit of piling up garbage bags on the sidewalk. And the town hall wants to seriously tackle these mountains of garbage which litter the streets.
On the Brooklyn side, the streets of Pitkin’s neighborhood have swapped trash bags for flowers and brand new dumpsters.
“I have three sets like this. That means 75 trash bags go in there every day, instead of on the sidewalk,” describes Tiera Mack, director of the Pitkin District Improvement Committee.
This is a pilot experiment, funded by the city. The bins, made of recycled material, are padlocked. Only employees have the code to prevent them from overflowing. It couldn’t be simpler, but in New York, it’s revolutionary,” rejoices Liz Reisch Picarazzi, founder of Citibin, the brand that manufactures the trash cans.
And added: “It has to be very solid, and pretty. It’s a big step forward compared to bags on the street. Yes, there are dozens of solutions, but the city wanted something that walk quickly.”
Not sure, however, that this is enough to solve the garbage and rat problems in New York. The city that never sleeps produces one and a half tonnes of waste per year per inhabitant. Twice as much as in Switzerland.
Sujet tv: Aviva Fried
Adaptation web: juma
2023-09-13 07:00:00
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