Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Global Warming Is Turning New York Into Rat City
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Aug 24, 2017
Modified Aug 24, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Aug 24, 2017
Modified Aug 24, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
It's bad enough that climate change is spiking our sea levels and turning spring and fall into distant memories, but now, it's possible global warming is batting for the enemy in the endless Rat War.
The New Republic has reported that cities like New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago are experiencing worrisome spikes in rat complaints and infestations. In our fair town, calls to the extermination company Orkin apparently rose 129 percent from 2013 to 2015, and though rats have long been part of NYC's landscape, at least one expert says things are getting much, much worse. "I travel all over the world with this animal, and the amount of complaints and feedback and questions I hear right now are all, 'We’ve never seen rats in the city like this before,'" noted rodentologist Bobby Corrigan told TNR. "They’re all expressing the same concern: Our rat problem is worse than ever."
The culprit? Global warming, potentially. "I personally feel there is a connection with climate change, just because of logic and the biology of rats’ reproductive cycle," Corrigan said. "Global climate change fits into this discussion in some measurement. How much, I’m just not sure."
Scientists have speculated for some time that warmer winters are contributing to rat baby booms, since rats tend to breed less in cold weather. The shorter the cold season, the more time rats have to make new rats. Two breeding-ready rats can spawn an extended family of 482 million rats in just three years, according to TNR, which means it's just a matter of time until the Upper West Side is lost to the rodents for good.
Last month, Mayor de Blasio pledged to spend $32 million to combat the city's rat population, but if climate change is compounding the issue, we'll need more action on a federal level—both to combat rats directly, and to mitigate global warming. Rats carry a staggering number of diseases and they're incredibly hard to control, much less eradicate.
In the end, Zardulu will have the last laugh, and the rest of us will be eaten by rats, as foretold in this old David Lynch PSA:
Tagged
climate change
global warming
rats
war on rats
why god
Rebecca Fishbein
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .