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Metro


PETA WANTS NYC GARBAGE CONTROL TO THIN RAT HERD RATHER THAN MASSIVE RODENT KILLS

By David Propper

April 16, 2023 | 2:05pm

The crusading animal activists of PETA are blaming the city’s rampant rat
explosion on “disgusting human behavior” — insisting thinning the herd shouldn’t
include rodents’ “gruesome, painful” deaths.


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The group’s concerns about rat control included a call to Mayor Eric Adams’
office last week.

“I don’t think any of us want to see the city filled with rats the way it is
right now and that includes PETA and other people who care about animals,” the
group’s communications director Ashley Byrne told The Post on Thursday.

“The rats you see on the streets are still sensitive, intelligent animals and
they deserve better than to be killed in gruesome, painful ways,” she asserted.

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Byrne, a 13-year Brooklyn resident, argued residents only have themselves to
blame for the rat proliferation, noting they shouldn’t be referred to as “pests”
because “they’re animals here through no fault of their own.”

“As long as the garbage is there and unchecked the rats will be there,” Byrne
said, noting that cutting off the rats’ food source is most critical. “We have a
disgusting human behavior problem, not a rat problem.”

She believes “it’s much easier for the city to demonize rats in this cartoonish
manner than it is to tell New Yorkers to get their act together and stop
treating the city like a garbage dump.”

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“The rats you see on the streets are still sensitive, intelligent animals and
they deserve better than to be killed in gruesome, painful ways,” a PETA
spokesperson said.Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Byrne’s comments come after Adams announced on Wednesday the city’s first ever
director of rodent mitigation — or “rat czar” — would be Kathleen Corradi.

SEE ALSO


ERIC ADAMS TAPS DOE EMPLOYEE KATHLEEN CORRADI AS NYC’S NEW ‘RAT CZAR’

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She was hired months after a job posting went up seeking a candidate “somewhat
bloodthirsty” who would turn to “wholesale slaughter” to reduce the rats running
around.

Adams has said he’s “fixated on killing rats” and hates the vile vermin, calling
them “public enemy number one.” 

On Thursday, PETA said its president Ingrid Newkirk spoke to Rachel Atcheson,
special advisor to the chief of staff in Adams’ office, about how the rat
population can be reduced in a less cruel way.

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“We are in touch with the mayor’s office, but we fear, given people’s
demonization of rats, that chemical sterilization (birth control), which is the
most humane method short of better trash pick-up and cleaning the streets of
human-created food trash, takes time and therefore is deemed too slow in instant
gratification and rat carcasses,” Newkirk said in a statement.

“If killing is the goal, more rats will come to fill the void and the cycle will
continue,” Newkirk added, fearing city officials’ tough talk on rats means
“being kind to these small mammals—who feel pain and fear every bit as much as
any dog, cat, or the “rat czar” herself—is apparently not a consideration.”

PETA communications director Ashley Byrne argued residents only have themselves
to blame for the rat takeover.Christopher Sadowski

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A worker fills rat burrows with dry ice, which suffocates the rodents without
the use of poisons.Matthew McDermott

Newkirk said she told Atcheson diligent trash collecting, and street and
sidewalk cleaning is what the city should focus on — not poisoning rats.

Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy vowed the city would look at “every rat
mitigation tool and technique” to eliminate the pests.

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“Every New Yorker hates rats — they’re dirty, diseased, and degrade our quality
of life.They also pose a public health risk to all New Yorkers,” Levy said in a
statement to The Post. “We hired a rat czar to expand what works and bring a
unified strategy to the war on rats so we can ultimately make progress and rid
of our city of these diseased rodents. 

Mayor Eric Adams has said he’s “fixated on killing rats,” calling them “public
enemy number one.” James Keivom Kathleen Corradi was announced as the city’s
first-ever “rat czar.”James Keivom

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“We’re glad PETA agrees with the plans we already have in place that place trash
out later and have it picked up earlier, but we also continue to look at every
rat mitigation tool and technique possible to see what works best for New York
City. While we hope to utilize these techniques without causing additional
suffering, our priority remains our city’s residents, not its rodents.”

What do you think? Post a comment.

City Hall noted it has rolled out several rat-fighting initiatives,
including pushing for trash bins with containers to keep rats away from food —
and sanitation picking up 5 million pounds of trash at midnight instead of at 6
a.m.


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