The Empire State Building. The statue of Liberty. Central Park. Times Square. A horde of rats scream and scamper between an underground nest and a restaurant while a group of tourists cheer them on. New York has never been short of interesting tourist activities, but the last one on the list is one of the most unexpected.
The city deals with a serious rat problem. In fact, last year cases of rodent activity doubled, which led the mayor to announce in December the search for a “somewhat bloodthirsty” rat killer. However, for some, this problem is the latest New York fad worth living.
According to him New York Post, Given the demand from visitors, some tour guide services began to offer in their guided tours some stops in parts of the city that are notoriously infested with rats.
From ‘tiktoker’ to guide
Rat tourism is quickly becoming a booming business. Kenny Bollwerk, 36, who built a following on TikTok by posting videos from New York, became a rodent guide when he spent “an hour or two” livestreaming rats running around a construction site in Sunnyside, Queens. “I thought, ‘Damn, this is ugly,’” he says. “People pass by and rats run over their feet, garbage piles up on the sidewalk,” he details.
The response from his followers was massive. He explains that more than 10,000 people tuned in live to see the rats. Bollwerk, who does not like rodents, indicates that he made the video with the aim of getting the city authorities to do something about it. He issued a call for affected people to call the city’s 311 service, which allows reporting rat infestations, to complain. The appeal worked: “There were about 100 complaints in one night in one place, and the City Council ended up coming and getting rid of the rats on the construction site.”
With his video, Bollwerk, who is originally from Missouri and moved to New York in 2019, attracted an audience of rat enthusiasts. He was inundated with requests to record them at locations across the city. He started going out to film rats – from a safe distance – three to five times a week, and was soon receiving messages from tourists who wanted to join.
“I was accompanied by a daughter and her father, and a husband and his wife. Everything you can think of: businessmen accompanied me to look for them. People came from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; of St. Louis, Missouri; from Oklahoma City; from Vancouver, Canada; of the Angels. It’s crazy how much this brings people together,” she says.
Aside from the tourist aspect, Bollwerk affirms that his new and unusual hobby consists of trying to help the residents of areas besieged by rodents: “I think the reason I continue to go out and do it is because I raise awareness about the problem. and I help the neighbors. Plus, I’m meeting a lot of interesting people that I would never have met otherwise.”
The battle against rats
In the city’s battle against the rats, there are some rays of hope. After a wave of rodents that lasted several months, the city hired its rat ‘czarina’ in April of this year, as she is known although her official position is director of the rodent mitigation program. The city’s mayor, Eric Adams, announced that Kathleen Corradi would be in charge of controlling “public enemy number one.” Since then, according to local news portal Gothamist, cases decreased 15% in June compared to the previous year as New York tries to end its reputation as a rat haven city.
The city established “rat mitigation zones” in places with the greatest presence of rodents, where workers identify sources of infection and act immediately, armed with rodenticide and fines for companies or business owners who may be promoting their proliferation. . New rules were also promoted that force restaurants to deposit their food waste in real containers, instead of the New York custom of throwing garbage bags on the street.
“New York used to be known for its unkempt streets, but from now on, we’re going to be known for our clean streets,” Adams said in June. Despite the efforts of the Tsarina and people like Bollwerk, there are still many rats. A few days ago, when Bollwerk spoke with The Guardianhad just been informed of a new problematic outbreak of rodents in downtown Manhattan.
It was a construction site next to a Wendy’s fast food establishment. He planned to go out that night to see for himself. However, like most New Yorkers, he didn’t want to get too close: “They scare me. Every time one approaches, I jump. “I don’t want them around.”
Translation by Emma Reverter
2023-09-11 09:11:12
#Rat #tours #latest #fad #rodentinfested #York
