It's no uncommon to see rats jumping into open garbage cans on the city's streets
NYC's latest tourist attraction: RATS! Tour guides offer trips to worst rodent-infested parts of the Big Apple - as thousands tune into TikToks of vermin population that's exploded across city
- Rat tourism has now become an unexpected phenomenon across New York City
- Some tourists are looking for rat-related experiences with the city's tour guides
- It comes after Eric Adams hired a 'rat tsar' to try to beat back the rodents
New York City is now so overrun with rats that tour guides are offering trips to see the worst rodent-infested areas.
'Rat tourism' is the latest attraction to be launched in the Big Apple, with savvy chaperons capitalizing on the invasion of the disease-spreading vermin.
Some are offering walks across the boroughs, including to Central Park, the subway system, near the Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Chinatown.
Meanwhile tens of thousands are tuning into 'RatTok' - TikTok channels taking viewers through the city showing how many rats are living alongside New Yorkers.
The rat infestation has become so bad that last year Mayor Eric Adams appointed a 'rat tsar' with the official title of 'director of rodent mitigation'.
Some tourists are now looking for rat-related experiences with tour guides have including stops at notoriously infested locations
One TikTok creator, Kenny Bollwerk, has built up a substantial following of 234,000 users focusing on the most 'rattractive' places for tourists to visit after he began live-streaming rats running around outside a building site in Queens.
He has now posted a number of videos with the focus squarely on the furry creatures that are continuing to run their own rat race in the nation's most populous city.
'I was like: 'Damn, this is bad. People are walking by, there's rats running across people's feet, there's piles of trash on the sidewalk,' he told The Guardian.
He urged viewers to file complaints with the city's 311 service, dedicated to handling rat infestations - and in some cases his efforts paid off.
'We had probably 100 complaints in one night in this one spot, and the city ended up coming by and getting rid of the rats at the construction site.'
Although Bollwerk, 36, was not fond of the creatures initially, he has been spurred on by the thousands of viewers who are fully fledged rat enthusiasts.
'I'm scared of them. Any time one comes running at me I jump. I don't want them anywhere near me,' Bollwerk said.
His viewers have served to both advise him where to go next to livestream the rats scuttling around, while some have even joined him on his tours around the city.
'I've had a daughter and father, and a husband and wife come with me. Anything you can think of: business owners have come out looking with me. There've been people from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; St Louis, Missouri; Oklahoma City; Vancouver, Canada; Los Angeles. It's crazy how much this brings people together,' Bollwerk explained.
Initially he began heading out and about between three and five times a week. There is no shortage of locations where city rats can be found.
The rodents are able to squeeze themselves under fences and through sidewalk cracks.
Outside restaurants where garbage can often be be piled several feet high rats can be find while outdoor dining sheds also provide refuge.
Far from the rats simply providing entertainment, Bollwerk believes his short films will ultimately help residents living in rat infested neighborhoods.
A rat scavenges for food on a sidewalk on 23rd Street near 6th Avenue in NYC last month
A rat climbs out of a box with food in it at on the platform at the Herald Square subway station
A rat sticks its head out of a garbage can as it hunts for food in Bogardus Plaza in Tribeca
'The fact that it's bringing awareness to an issue, and it's helping people in their neighborhoods – I think that's why I keep going out and doing it. And I'm meeting so many cool people through it that I would have never met,' he said.
New York City leaders have been trying to control the rodent population for generations with mixed results, but sightings of rats in parks, sidewalks and other places in the city have increased with things only getting steadily worse since the pandemic.
Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, rats survived a multimillion-dollar effort that aimed to reduce their numbers with more garbage pickups and better housing inspections in targeted neighborhoods.
The city even launched a program to use dry ice to suffocate rats in their hiding spots - but still the rats remain.
City officials insist they are winning in the war against rats with Kathleen Corradi designated the city's rat czar.
The rats know that the garbage bins are a haven for discarded food
In areas where rats are known to frequent, 'rat mitigation zones' have been designated where officials come in with rat poison while fining businesses or home owners if they are doing anything that might be encouraging rats to thrive.
Restaurants have also been told to put all food waste into containers rather than directly into garbage bags in the hope the additional barrier will make life harder for the rodents.
The city also launched its first 'Interactive Rat Map' with the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Harlem showing the most 'rat-tivity' in Manhattan.
Time will tell - but for now, the rats rule.
'We've had rats the size of crocs just running up and down the street,' said Ruth McDaniels, the president of her local tenants association in Harlem
Rats in New York City's sewers are harboring Covid, scientists warn, and they may be able to infect humans
PETA rep Ashley Byrne slammed efforts to carry out a rat cull.
Sleeping subway rider woke to find a huge rodent crawling on top of him
Subway riding rat sliding down a subway handrail
High end boutique, which also sells its products at Saks Fifth Avenue, was shut down due to this rodent's unplanned visit. The rat was seen browsing a plum-colored briefcase and hat worth $995 and $225, respectively
Social media stars Pizza Rat (left) and Bagel Rat (right)
Even jaded New Yorkers were both disgusted and impressed by 'Pizza Rat,' the plucky rodent seen dragging a large cheese slice down a subway stairwell
Two pizza rats battling over pizza in the subway
Donut Rat (left) and Coffee Rat (right)
A Chipotle restaurant in New York City was closed after it was overrun by rodents the size of small cats. One of the large vermin is seen being handled inside the store
Jose Rivera speared this humongous rat at a housing project in Brooklyn. It was three feet long. Even the cats are afraid of the rats. The rats get together and gang up on the cats.
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