New York has a huge rat problem. These vigilantes with dogs think they can fix it

The Guardian ^ | 19 Dec 2021 | Adam Gabbatt

[wally_bert]

Wilhelm would rather have Hauptmann Dietrich in charge.

[piasa]

Mine love going after rats. And squirrels, too.

[poinq]

This is not really a bad thing. But it is nothing more than a sport. Its about the same as hunting fox or coons. Dogs do it naturally. Its not really cruel. The rats will eat each other eventually. As soon as the food runs out or one gets really sick.

But if you think your doing something to shrink the rat population, you are fooling your self. Rats reproduce at an alarming rate. You can’t really make a dent in their population. They live in the sewers and even in the rivers. There is so much food and water and warmth done there it can maintain tens of millions of rats.

And I hope these men get their dogs to their shots every year. The dogs are going to take home some nasty flees and other infections.

[butlerweave]

I had a Gordon Setter that killed a few Rats in her day , we have neighbours that feed birds and attract rats from the river

[griswold3]

Rat terriers are the best for barn rats. The problem with unknown rats is whether they’ve ingested poison. You have to train terriers to not eat them just kill them cleanly so the dogs are not poisoned.
Heard the dogs can quickly kill a hundred vermin

[HighSierra5]

I remember when I demolished a loading dock in downtown L.A. 20 years ago and when the tractor lifted a concrete slab scores of rats ran out. The whole crew was mashing them with shovels and stomping them and crushing them with the tractor. Some of the guys were using 2x4s to bat them like baseballs. It was quite a scene.

[Osage Orange]

Sheet even when the four legged Rat’s are gone...there’s still millions of two legged.

[piasa]

I caught 44 rats in under an hour using a few propositioned cockatiel nest boxes, some corn shucks, and some duct tape. Hung the boxes then the next day checked them to see what moved in overnight. Rats, especially the females, can’t resist bird nest boxes hung high. You can tell when they are in the box by the corn shucks dangling out the entrance hole after they stuff them in the boxes to make their nest. You can also tell just by the weight of the box when you grab it. So when you have an occupied box you slap some duct tape over the hole and carry the box to a 55 gallon drum with two feet of water in it and drop the box in. Push it under and leave it there for 10 minutes. Then pull it out and see how many rats were in it. Often it is 5 to 7... Did not take long to clear the barn.

[alternatives?]

A news story about 9 dead rats?

[cherry]

the rats were getting so bad in my dtrs Portland home when she lived there that in the backyard they'd jump off the roof of the garage into their garden boxes.....her neighbor who lived there for 25 yrs said she never saw it so bad...

my SIL who lives 25 miles south of Portland FEEDS her "birds" with sugar cereals and wonders why she has rats in her backyard....

[Flick Lives]

Many cats won’t mess with rats.

—

Yup. Some rats are big enough to cause a cat to think twice. That’s why rat terriers were bred. They’re large enough and fast enough to take on rats.

[Triple]

JRT - rats worst nightmare. :-)

[oldasrocks]

Had a Shiba Inu who would catch squirrels in the back yard. He was fast.

[Hardastarboard]

And then you add a quart of gasoline and a match. . . .

[Trillian]

Damn democrats.

[BozoTexino]

My Pittie mix rescue brings me squirrels she kills as gifts left on the kitchen floor. Best dog I’ve ever had. Sweet, fast, and hilariously fun.

[353FMG]

We havve always known that NYC has a democRAT problem. That’s why air rifles were invented,

[daniel1212]

The one's I have dealt with in this populous city (in which dogs are on leashed and walked by owners but not to get rats) are smart enough to avoid traps once one gets caught in them. Poison works best, but there are different types, and some require a PCO license. I found this works better than the constant fed types. It is best to pulverize blocks and mix them about 5 parts poison to 1 part peanut butter, put in sandwich bags and place them where cats and kids cannot get into. Squirrel population decreases also.

[John S Mosby]

There are several great videos on the Rat Terriers who job out the rat killing— community activists who go out at night with their dogs to find and kill rats (as requested by citizens). This was a while back, and oh how looney the PC PETA crowd went. May recall also that D.C. rat pest control was for a time capturing LIVE RATS and moving them out into the “countryside” of VA.

VA FReepers might know if this is still going on. Not killing the filthy disease vectors— noooooo— let the wharf rats the size of cats out into the wild. There is only so many that owls, coyotes, and domestic or feral dogs and cats can handle.

[John S Mosby]

The country solution is a large bucket with a baited roller that spins and dumps the little sobs into water they cannot leap out of (certain depth works), and they swim around until they drown. Very efficient as you say.