The latest front in New York City’s war on rats? Some 600,000 tree beds on the street.
City officials on Sunday announced they are investing $877,000 to establish new teams focused on clearing out rat burrows in tree pits by using carbon-monoxide pumps. The strategy, which involves injecting carbon monoxide throughout rat tunnels under tree beds to asphyxiate the rodents, was first piloted on the Upper East Side two years ago. Street tree beds were the subject of more than 2,300 rat-related 311 complaints last year, according to City Hall.
“Those holes that you see in your tree beds, those are not simply roots that are being grown,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference in Crown Heights. “That is a place where rats have learned to use as a safe haven, and they have been ignored for years, but we’re going to tackle them head on.”…