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News & ArtsFriday, November 2, 2012
Animals NYC Rats and Sandy
Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 6:06 AM
HLNTV.com interviews Dr. Rick Ostfeld, a specialists in "disease ecology and rodent population dynamics," about how Sandy will impact NYC's huge rat population:
Everyone has a Room 101. Rats are in my Room 101. I love Manhattan, but so do the rats. The size of the rat population in NYC compares with the size of the human population. Rats are great swimmers. The only reason why I own cats is they are lions to rats.
Dr. Rick Ostfeld: I think it’s quite likely that rat populations that inhabited low-lying areas of NYC (sewers, storm drains, subways, etc.) will be massively affected by Sandy. Some individuals likely will be killed, but rats are excellent swimmers and climbers, and I expect them to disperse widely over the next few days to weeks. Some might return home when the floodwaters subside, but others will set up shop in some new place.Where will these rats try to go?
Ostfeld: Initially to higher ground. Unfortunately, much of that higher ground consists of stores, apartments, warehouses, schools, and other places where we don’t want rat companions. We can expect a phase of dispersing, wandering rats followed by their establishing new colonies and social orders. The wandering phase, which could take weeks, presents a problem as the animals mix with one another (increasing risk of disease transmission to other rats) and look for food, often near people.
1
You could get an actual mountain lion for a pet too. Then, you would have to fear neither rat nor looter nor zombie.
3
@2: Terriers can't shit without supervision, you know that. Cats can be trained to use a litter box.
I'll take the occasional butter mishap over having to babysit a dog several times a day.
I'll take the occasional butter mishap over having to babysit a dog several times a day.
5
My cat was booking a flight to New York with a bunch of her feline friends. I don't know what's going on but there is a bunch of cat sized hunting gear around my house. I am a little concerned about the small semi-automatic rifle and little bullets but what can you do?
7
I wonder if anybody has ever thought about that. I mean, imagine if we took all the little kitties that were sitting on animal shelter death row, and unleashed them en masse (spayed and neutered, of course) at a disaster site with a rat problem.
If the cats are successful, we might see a seismic shift in the country's opinion of cats. Dog ownership might be phased out as more and more people realize the utility of their feline friends. Since the very same dog breeds that can stop an intruder are also the same breeds that frequently harm owners and innocent bystanders, more folks might switch to cats as a safer companion that can also solve public health problems.
If the cats are successful, we might see a seismic shift in the country's opinion of cats. Dog ownership might be phased out as more and more people realize the utility of their feline friends. Since the very same dog breeds that can stop an intruder are also the same breeds that frequently harm owners and innocent bystanders, more folks might switch to cats as a safer companion that can also solve public health problems.
8
@7: Then they just need to release all the feral dogs to kill the cat infestation, and then all we need are Chinese Needle snakes to kill off all the dogs, then we just need those gorillas that thrive off of snake meat to kill all of the snakes.
The beauty part? When winter rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
The beauty part? When winter rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
11
Terriers are lions to rats. Cats, to rats, are more like leopards or cougars. They're smaller than a big one and vulnerable when big ones swarm.
12
@ 2, say what? I guess they can't get up on the table by themselves, but they would eat all your butter in they could.
@ 11, rat terriers aren't much bigger than cats.
Cats rule. The only people who disagree are control freaks who love the total obedience a dog gives them.
@ 11, rat terriers aren't much bigger than cats.
Cats rule. The only people who disagree are control freaks who love the total obedience a dog gives them.
14
Now get this. We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats and get the cat skins for nothing.
15
What's interesting to me about rats is how very hominid-like they are with their promiscuous sexual habits, their omnivorous diets, their intellect, their complex social systems, their young born so immature and dependent. It all makes them wonderfully useful laboratory animals.
A rat is a pretty formidable foe for a cat, especially because cats are solitary hunters while rats like to stick close to their buddies. I keep lecturing my cat about her need to chase off the rodents that creep into the basement in winter, but she seems to have lost her desire to hunt them. The last time I saw her go after one, it reared up on its hind legs and faced her head on.
I guess I can't blame her for reluctance after that.
A rat is a pretty formidable foe for a cat, especially because cats are solitary hunters while rats like to stick close to their buddies. I keep lecturing my cat about her need to chase off the rodents that creep into the basement in winter, but she seems to have lost her desire to hunt them. The last time I saw her go after one, it reared up on its hind legs and faced her head on.
I guess I can't blame her for reluctance after that.
17
@ 15, when my sister lived in Belleview (near Lake Washington) a dozen or so years ago, she had a cat, about average size, who hunted rats. Some cats are just better hunters than others.
@ 16, I do own a dog. An Australian Cattle Dog. Currently my only pet. (Well, if you don't count the hens, which I don't.) Hope that doesn't blow your mind too much. (And if you think that's really me, can I interest you in some magic underpants?)
@ 16, I do own a dog. An Australian Cattle Dog. Currently my only pet. (Well, if you don't count the hens, which I don't.) Hope that doesn't blow your mind too much. (And if you think that's really me, can I interest you in some magic underpants?)
18
@16, that's not Matt, it's Ray Conniff. No, I didn't know that (despite having grown up in casino country), but Google Image Search did.
19
Don't forget bugs. While my cats discourage woodland creatures in and around the house, they also see as their duty to capture and kill all buglife as well. If they don't outright eat them (yuck), they play with them until I find tiny, crumpled, limbless carcasses beneath furniture.
20
Charles states that the rat population rivals that of people. I've actually heard rats outnumber people at a significant ratio. According to Wikipedia... "some estimate the number as far higher, as many as four rats per person (32 million.)"
22
@2 No, dogs actually learn the rules and follow them. When I was a kid, our dog was not was not allowed to go from the kitchen into the dining room, and he never did, regardless of whether someone was watching.
Dogs are your friends. Cats are fucking autistic. They have no idea that you are anything other than a source of their gratification.
Dogs are your friends. Cats are fucking autistic. They have no idea that you are anything other than a source of their gratification.
23
All you "cat vs. dog" argument people should just go have a nap. BOR-ING!
7, you are either joking, or you're bonkers. I mean, have you not read about the dangers of toxoplasmosis gondii? "Seismic shift" my ass...
RELEASE THE CHINESE NEEDLE SNAKES!
7, you are either joking, or you're bonkers. I mean, have you not read about the dangers of toxoplasmosis gondii? "Seismic shift" my ass...
RELEASE THE CHINESE NEEDLE SNAKES!
24
In the middle ages, Christians believed cats were witches because their eyes had slit pupils. So they burned all the cats alive. With all the cats dead, the rat population exploded. With all the rats came all the fleas that caused the great plague.
26
@2,
They don't? The dog of a friend of mine gulped down an entire stick of butter when she turned her back for one second. Although I do admit that I can't leave anything containing cream cheese frosting out or my cat manages to get her filthy paws on it.
@7,
Cats are already the most popular pet in the country.
@19,
I once tried to put a spider out of its misery before my cat could torture it and eat it alive. She gobbled up the carcass anyway.
They don't? The dog of a friend of mine gulped down an entire stick of butter when she turned her back for one second. Although I do admit that I can't leave anything containing cream cheese frosting out or my cat manages to get her filthy paws on it.
@7,
Cats are already the most popular pet in the country.
@19,
I once tried to put a spider out of its misery before my cat could torture it and eat it alive. She gobbled up the carcass anyway.
27
It depends on the cat. I had one that was a one-kitty killing machine- every kind of bug, mice, rats, a squirrel, half a baby bunny, and an inordinate number of snakes... and another who couldn't catch fleas.
30
@22 So... your definition of a "friend" is an awestruck, mouth-gaping subservient being, that will learn and follow rules, just like your old dog ?
I'll gladly pass on being one of your "friends", then - #12 did see through you.
Oh - and there's more to dogs than blind allegiance, you know. Dogs have personalities too - that they readily express, unless they've been "trained" (bullied and broken) till they're robots. Which is not what a good training is about.
I'll gladly pass on being one of your "friends", then - #12 did see through you.
Oh - and there's more to dogs than blind allegiance, you know. Dogs have personalities too - that they readily express, unless they've been "trained" (bullied and broken) till they're robots. Which is not what a good training is about.
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