Rodent population issues counter-strategy involving the subway and a food cart coalition
The Rats Had Intel
NEW YORK — Three weeks after Mayor Eric Drummond declared a formal municipal war on the city’s rat population, the rats have captured a ConEdison substation in the Bronx, established a supply line through the C train tunnel, and issued what a Sanitation Department memo describes as “a coordinated counter-offensive that suggests organizational capacity we underestimated.”
Rat Czar Priscilla Gnaw, appointed at a salary of $155,000 to oversee the city’s rodent strategy, told reporters the situation was “dynamic.” “We anticipated resistance,” she said. “We did not anticipate a flanking maneuver.”
How It Went Wrong
The city’s initial strategy, “Bin It to Win It,” required residents to place garbage in sealed containers by a specific hour, a plan that successfully contained garbage for four days before the rats, apparently aware of the schedule, simply shifted to a later shift. “They learned our hours,” Gnaw confirmed. “We are now considering variable hours. The rats will probably also learn those.”
Dr. Leonard Scurry of the Urban Rodent Studies Center at Fordham University noted that New York rats have been adapting to human strategy since 1626. “They have four hundred years of institutional knowledge,” he said. “The Rat Czar position has existed for two years. I am not saying it is hopeless. I am saying the rats have more experience.”
The Path Forward
The Mayor’s office announced a new Phase Two strategy it declined to describe publicly, citing operational security concerns about leaks to the rat community. Asked if rats can read press releases, a spokesperson said, “We are not ruling it out.” The NYC Sanitation Department confirmed the war continues and that winning remains “the objective, technically.”
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com