They are eight people, dog lovers, who go with their faithful dogs prowling the streets of New York. Everything happens on a Friday night, keeping in mind a clear objective: hunt and kill as many rats as possible, precisely in one of the cities with the most public presence of these rodents.
Dogs, mostly terriersThey gasp and tug on their leashes before diving into piles of garbage and emerging seconds later with a mouse between their teeth.
“They are bred for this job. They are made for this. They live for this, “explains Richard Reynolds, organizer of the RATS group, the Ryders Alley Trencher-fed Society.
New York’s furry rodents are famous: legend has it there are as many rats as there are humans in this city of 8.5 million inhabitants, in which the authorities try to control the plague even with dry ice and alcohol.
Shortly after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of “unusual or aggressive behavior” by rats after the closures of restaurants and offices, due to the disturbance of food sources.
RATS volunteers and their dogs have been pursuing this plague for almost 30 years and they have maintained their encounters during the pandemic, albeit more irregularly than usual.
Short-legged dogs such as the German terrier (identified as jagdterriers) catch and throw rodents from garbage piles, construction debris and bushes to faster, longer-legged dogs like Bedlington terriers, who are left behind, ready to pounce on rats.
“It’s a bit like X-Men. Each dog has its own super power“says Alex Middleton, a 36-year-old dog trainer.
Reynolds, 77, hits trash cans with a metal stick to scare off rats in front of dogs, while Middleton frequently throws a German terrier named Rommel right into the trash.
“Come on Rommel, catch her!” The group yells as the dog rummages in the trash. Moments later, after several screeches, Rommel appears with the rat, a thread of blood hanging from his mouth, and the hunters cheer.
These rat catchers collect the bodies by the tail and place them in a single cloth bag. The content will be emptied and counted at the end of the night.
“The newest members share the task of carrying the bag. It’s heavy, do you want to feel it?” Sophia Pierce, 28 years old.
Pierce, a dog trainer who joined the hunts a year ago with her sausage Lita, remains unfazed during the night of violence. “You kind of get used to it,” he says.
How was RATS, the organization that hunts mice with its dogs, born?
Reynolds, a dog show judge, was in a New Jersey park in the 1990s when his dogs started killing rats during a show. A park employee asked if they could go back and that’s how RATS was born.
Although the municipal government does not recommend the practice, citing the risk of dogs getting sick with leptospirosis, does not prohibit hunting because the members of the group do not violate its sanitary rules.
RATS respond to calls and Facebook messages from residents who have issues with the infestation, and who appreciate your prompt and efficient response.
Not everyone likes this hunt, PETA criticizes it
“Occasionally a can of beer has been thrown at us for making too much noise but we are warmly welcomed in most places we go,” says Reynolds.
Kayla Callender says she was “thrilled” when she saw the hunters this month near her home, by the Williamsburg Bridge, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
“Make a big difference, certainly. I appreciate it, “she said excitedly at the action.
The head of animal rights group PETA, Stephanie Bell, takes a different view, and describes the hunts as “archaic, depraved and illegal”.
Although Reynolds believes that being hunted by a terrier is “not pleasant” for the rat, it is no more cruel than rat poison or sticky traps.
Michael Parsons, rat expert at Fordham University, compares hunters to “a band-aid for cancer”, and ensures that to eliminate rats it would be more effective to reduce garbage in the streets.
Reynolds admits that the group does not have “a strong impact” on the rodent population from Manhattan, but insists they “contribute something to the community.”
The group sends DNA samples from rats to universities that conduct research and deliver frozen rats for hawks in a rehabilitation center for these birds.
Volunteers say their enjoyment comes from watching the dogs have fun doing what they were born to do.
“We control the rats but that is not really why we are here. We are here for the dogs, to work the dogs“, dice Reynolds.
Kim McCormick, a 58-year-old paramedic who drives a six-hour round trip from Connecticut to participate in the hunts also enjoys the camaraderie.
“It’s a totally different world, a totally different way of meeting people. We work together and the dogs are phenomenal together,” he says.
At the end of the three-hour hunt, 54-year-old Greg Conception places the loot on the ground, the dead rats lined up, for a total of 26.
“We usually take about 40. This is not much. Obviously we are coming here too often,” he says.
OMZI
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