Rats under blanket: NYC subway video shows rodents scurry from under person's blanket
NEW YORK CITY - Shocking video from a New York City subway showed what appeared to be over a dozen rats scurrying away from underneath a person’s blanket.
The video shared on TikTok by @six4bk718 showed a blanket against the wall toward the end of a subway platform.
Still image taken from video where over a dozen rats scurried out from underneath a homeless person's blanket.
From afar, it appeared there was a person sleeping underneath the blanket, but not only that, a few rats were seen scurrying away.
Still image taken from video where over a dozen rats scurried out from underneath a homeless person's blanket.
The person recording the video approached the blanket and called out to the person underneath. When the person began to stir and lift the blanket, over a dozen rats ran out from underneath.
'Rats are smart, they are resilient'
Rats are a top public concern in the Big Apple.
To combat the city’s rat problem, Mayor Eric Adams introduced a new Rat Czar back in April 2023, even changing trash pickup times.
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"Rats are smart, they are resilient," Adams said. "Many of us live in communities where rats think they run the city."
No traps nor poisonous bait have fully succeeded in reducing their numbers. Rats have thrived in subway tunnels and burrows within empty lots and city parks.
In November 2023, New York City implemented a new carbon monoxide treatment with hopes of "smoking" out the rodents.
Ongoing battle with NYC rats
It’s not the first time a New York mayor has appointed a rat czar.
Rudy Giuliani anointed one of his deputy mayors to handle the job, although Corradi will be the city's first director of rodent mitigation.
During his time in office, Giuliani established a task force, which spawned a boot camp called the "rodent academy" that still produces cadres of foot soldiers hoping to vanquish the city's army of rats.
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Former Mayor Bill de Blasio budgeted more than $30 million in his own failed bid to conquer rats.
One plan relied on dry ice to suffocate rats in their burrows. It proved comedic at one demonstration for journalists when workers chased, but never caught one of the fleeing vermin.