A rat race to nowhere.
In ancient Greece, where they had a god for everything, there was a character named Sisyphus. He was a tyrant from Greek mythology who was sentenced by Hades to repeatedly push a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down again when he reached the top. Then start all over again and again for eternity. He became the role model for people that just kept working at endless non-successful jobs. A New York City rat is being compared to “Sisyphus” after the rat was spotted making a never-ending climb up the steps of a descending escalator in the video below. Even though the rat could climb and jump the steps pretty well, the escalator action kept taking him back down. So he was making lots of effort but getting nowhere while the escalator was running. So this rats struggle was compared to the Big Apple trying to eliminate or even control the rat population. Last year the city hired a Rat Czarina for $155,000 with great fanfare, but rodent complaints have spiked nearly 8% across New York City troubling data shows.
The big problem is the living style of NYC. With so many people in large buildings and so many restaurants clustered together it makes a great concentration of rat food. This challenge is concentrated because the buildings and the restaurants, put their garbage out after hours in black plastic bags on the sidewalk for the city crews to pick up. That makes it dinner time for the rats. They easily chew through the plastic and then get their fill with your leftovers. Officials announced back in October that the city would require residents of smaller properties to store waste in containers in 95% of residential properties across the five boroughs starting in the fall of 2024. Those include buildings with nine or fewer units. By summer of 2026, they’ll have to store waste in official city bins. Rat sightings in the 10-block pilot zone in Harlem have dropped by 68% in the first three months after the containers were rolled out, according to the city. Rat sightings are down 16% in rat mitigation zones since new trash rules went into effect. “It keeps the streets cleaner. More people stopped throwing their garbage in the streets. But no, same number of rats. That hasn’t changed,” said Ashley Diaz.
Mayor Adams vowed from Day One of taking office to improve the Big Apple’s rat problem. He beefed up “war” efforts, including gassing the rodents in their holes. East Harlem had 1,298 rodent complaints from May through the end of 2023, a 76% increase from 736 the same period a year earlier. Curtis Sliwa said “Adam’s is fighting a war on rats, but he never wants to go the whole nine yards — so far it’s all been smoke and mirrors.” Too many trash bins have been visibly overflowing citywide in recent weeks because the migrant crisis is draining Sanitation Department pickup services. “Mayor Adams declared war on rats when he took office, and under this administration, New York City is winning that war day by day,” a City Hall spokesperson said. Surveys say there is one rat for every three people in NYC.
Smells like a rat
A church has a rat problem: The church doesn’t want to kill the rats, so they trap them and release them far away, but the next day they are back. Next they try asking them politely to leave, still they won’t budge. Finally, the priest has one last idea, he baptized all the rats.
Now they only come at Christmas and Easter.
One rat asked the other rat if he’s had the covid vaccine yet?
Nope, they’re still testing it on humans. Let’s see how that goes.
What did one lab rat brag to the other?
“I’ve got my scientist so well trained that every time I push the buzzer, he brings me a snack.”
A pigeon and a rat walk into a bar…
So now, I’m looking for a cleaner place to grab a drink.
January 23rd Birthdays
1965 – Mariska Hargirtay, 1957 – Princess Caroline, 1974 -Tiffany Theisen, 1993 – Sinead DeVries
1995 – J. T. Barrett, 1952 – Chesley Sullenberger, 1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, 1737- John Hancock