New York City to Host First National ‘Rat Summit’

NNew York will host its first National Urban Rat Summit this fall, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.

The summit will invite experts, such as academic researchers and municipal pest control managers, to come together and share strategies on rodent mitigation and “advance the science of urban rat management,” the city said in a statement. Press release. Experts from across the country – including Boston, New Orleans and Seattle – will be invited to participate in the summit, which will be held on September 18th and 19th.

“New Yorkers may not know this about me, but I hate rats and I’m confident that the majority of our city’s residents do too,” Adams said in the press release. “The best way to defeat our enemy is to know him. That’s why we’re holding this inaugural summit, to bring together experts and leaders from across the country to better understand urban rats and how to manage their populations.”

The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Cornell University’s New York State Integrated Pest Management Program will host the summit.

See more information: Rat infestations are a global problem. Is birth control the solution?

The announcement of the summit comes after municipal authorities embarked on several initiatives to combat the growing rat population in the city. New York is the third “craziest” city in the US, after Chicago and Los Angeles, according to pest control company Orkin’s 2023 rankings. The rankings are based on the number of new rat treatments – both residential and public – that Orkin performed in cities throughout the year.

In April 2023, Adams named Kathleen Corradi as city director of rodent mitigation, the first person to hold the position intended to solve the city’s rat problem. The city also currently has four “Rat Mitigation Zones,” which are areas the city aims to reduce rat populations.

New York City Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch has also led an initiative to containerize all 14 billion pounds of trash the city produces annually, according to the city’s press release. All that garbage sat on the street for hours, outside the containers, attracting rats. (Tisch is perhaps best known for the phrase that made her go viral in October 2022: “Rats are going to hate this ad. But rats don’t rule this town. We do.”)

Since then, rat sightings reported to 311 have decreased, according to the city’s news release. In the city’s Rat Mitigation Zones, rat sightings have dropped by nearly 14%.

“Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, New York City is taking on the fight against rats, adopting proven strategies that have been delayed by inaction for too long – and getting results, with rat sightings declining in 12 of the 13 months since we started the herculean task. to remove all 44 million pounds of trash that attracts rats from the streets,” Tisch said in the city’s press release. “The Urban Rat Summit is an opportunity to share best practices as the ‘Trash Revolution’ advances.”