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In 2005, a Columbia graduate student in statistics emailed us, noticing "a mean 10.2 and a median 8.0 rats per night" on West 108th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam. One solution was cats, another was rat snakes. But now it seems that the rats have moved to Columbia's campus. From the Columbia Spectator:
Columbia College Student Council President Seth Flaxman, CC '07, sent an e-mail to Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin asking the administration to address the problem.The administration says there could be a number of factors, like the warm fall and winter causing an increase in rat mating and Columbia students being total slobs."There is a rat problem on campus and I'm not talking about the graduate students," he wrote. "Students are telling me there are more rats on campus at night than any of us have ever seen before ... I don't know what's causing this ratification, but I'm hoping you can talk to Facilities and lead us in our fight against the rat invaders."
The city has faced problems with rodent control; in fact, it takes the city about 30 days to respond to a complaint - and the rat's gestation period is around 3 weeks.
Photograph taken on 14th Street and 7th Avenue by Joe Schumacher on Flickr
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The area is plagued... sorry... by them. I was walking with my beloved up 110 between Amsterdam and Morningside/Columbus on the north side by that collapsed retaining wall by the Cathedral when a rat jumped out and ... no kidding ... attacked us both. This was earlier in the fall, and while I had pants on, my beloved did not, and it literally drew blood with its scratching. I managed to deliver a swift kick sending the pest into the plywood that covers the collapse with a distinct thud. Not a good time. Called the Cathedral and they promised to exterminate, which I'm sure they never did... it was the week before the blessing of the animals after all.
Speaking of plagues, the White House is ALSO full of freakin' RATS.
It's ZyklonB time, baby.
Maybe the rats are trying to better themselves by going to night school.
Hey, not everyone can afford to go to school full time.
i've been a grad student there for five years, i am in fact a rat, and yeah i've totally noticed it. this last fall, walking to the train at night, i would see about 3 rats run across my path every time. and i remember thinking several times "i never noticed the rats before, is this a new thing?"
I'm in my third year at Columbia and I've never seen so many rats before this year. There's even a mouse that's been hiding out in my suite. I tried to get rid of it with traps, but it's still around. I gave up on trying to kill it and I even gave it a name (Terry).