Normally putting your feet up (or god forbid standing on) the seats on the subway is totally verboten. But when a giant rat has decided to hop on the R train to Brooklyn with you? Understandable! Sit back and watch as another train full of humans freaks out over a rodent rail rider: more ›

Yesterday someone Tweeted this photo of a giant monster rat, supposedly discovered at a Foot Locker in the Bronx. You might recognize this guy, as he bears a striking resemblance to the 3-foot-long beast that was stabbed with a pitchfork in Brooklyn last year. That one was believed to be a Gambian pouched rat, and may have been someone's escaped pet. However, it wasn't the first one spotted in that area, and locals believed they were multiplying faster than Gremlins taking a bath. more ›

During yesterday's coverage of flooded New York City streets, a WCBS 2 camera filmed an animal making a labored walk through muck. The people discussing Hurricane Irene don't comment on the creature, which looks like a rat, opossum, ferret, or a giant monitor lizard. Check out the footage: more ›

There's a new sad rat in town: A giant 3-foot-long rat met its maker at the Marcy Houses recently, when Housing Authority worker Jose Rivera stabbed it multiple times with a pitchfork. The 48-year-old says he believes there are at least two more on the loose out there, which he spotted when filling a rat hole last week. more ›

Forest City Ratner, the developer behind the controversial Nets arena currently rising over the Atlantic Yards, seems to have expanded its "rodent control program" to help neighbors dealing with "a rat tsunami." Their solution? Free trash cans! Better than nothing, we guess. more ›

It's been a little while since we heard from the Rat Man, but thanks to YouTube he's pretty easy to track down. A new video has popped up showing that recently he was subjected to... the kindness of strangers! These two people offer the man and his rat a temporary place to stay, but warn him that they have a cat. He still seems to be interested in the offer, however, noting that he has a cage. Think it worked out? more ›

The city Health Department has laid off 63 workers on its Pest Control team—75 percent of the staff. And that has elected officials and some New Yorkers filled with dread about a possible rat "crisis." If what we're experiencing now—with rats crawling out of toilet bowls and scurrying across our sleeping faces in the subway—doesn't qualify as a crisis, we can't wait to see how this devolves further. Rats chartering party buses to take them to the fish market in Hunts Point? Stroller-pushing rats blocking bike lanes? But which ever way this deteriorates, Harlem is going to be ready. more ›

Recently there have been more videos than we're comfortable with showing rats riding the subway (one didn't survive the close encounter with straphanger). And now, the latest, comes with a twist. This time the rat was brought on to the train on purpose, and sits on the lap of its owner, feasting on a shared plate of pasta... as fellow passengers react with both shrieks and laughter. more ›

While the Parks Department's Phil Abramson told us on Wednesday he was "not familiar with any regulations about killing rats" in city parks, NYC the Blog has heard from PETA, and they seem more in the know. To recap: a video emerged recently of a dog hunting rats for sport in Washington Square Park, killing nearly 15 in one night. But is that legal, even if the city does have a rat problem? more ›

The only thing that would make us feel okay about this video is if the rats were replaced with bed bugs... but as it is, this is pretty disturbing. NYC the Blog posted the below video today (though it was filmed a few months ago), showing an energetic little pup chasing after rats in Washington Square Park. Once he gets a hold of one the sound of its squeaks will haunt you forever. more ›

Good morning, let's start the day off right with this video of a rat running around a subway car. Yes, inside the train. The "highlight," as we noted in the title, is when the rat crawls up the leg and over the face of a sleeping man. Ha, ha. more ›

This Wednesday and next, the Health Department is offering free classes on rat prevention in East Harlem and the Bronx (details). Or, as the Post puts it, it's a "three-hour cram course on keeping the long-tailed terrors from feasting on the fetid buffets inside trash bags." (Think about that as garbage lingers on the streets). Health Department Assistant Commissioner for Pest Control Mario Merlino says, "Rats could chew through everything except plate steel." Oh, and "A quarter-inch hole is all it takes for a full-grown adult rat to penetrate your home or garbage room, Merlino said." more ›

Don't want to see rats in the subway system? Stop feeding them! Senator Bill Perkins reminds: "Rats don't grow the food that they eat on the subway, and they don't buy it, either. We as customers, unfortunately, are the ones that are feeding, and thereby breeding the rodent infestation problem we have." Perkins has been rallying for a ban on food in the subway system, and now NY1 visits his fears that MTA budget cuts, and no food ban, could lead to a real ratdemic. more ›

A 49-year-old Manhattan mom, Dianne Rochenski, can't get enough of the city's unwanted mascot: the rat! According to the Daily News, she keeps rat figurines, and giant stuffed rats in her apartment—in addition to her two pet rats, of course. Pet rats aren't that crazy of an idea... but hers, Remalina and Christiana, sleep in her bed. more ›

Time to send in the Chinese Needle Snakes. In an attempt to get rid of the rat problem in Brooklyn, officials unleashed opossums (the rats of the marsupial order) into the Brooklyn streets to attack and kill the rats. Now, Brooklyn has an opossum problem. Oh, and it still has a rat problem. And a tornado problem. Up next: locusts? more ›

This rat is real. A reader sent in this photo from her commute home on the 6 train tonight, telling us: "A lot of people were moving to other cars. He was playing with it and as soon as I went to take a picture he put the rat in his mouth!" Is this man single-handedly responsible for controlling the underground ratdemic? And on a scale of "1" to "Unclean!"—how much worse is this to witness than someone digging into a bag of malodorous McDonald's on the subway? We apologize for any nightmares this image is going to give you—let's just pretend he went home and sang the below song to his special rodent friend. more ›

It seems the "ratdemic" isn't just taking over the streets of the UWS and UES: a retired Brooklyn police officer is filing a federal lawsuit against the NYPD, claiming that he was labeled a "rat" and forced out by colleagues for doing his job honestly. The lawsuit largely stems from the botched investigation of the death of Marcello Lopez in 2005, for which Detective James Griffin was one of the primary investigators. more ›

Before his prison incarceration earlier this year, exuberant twitterer and ESPN blogger Lil Wayne told Dinosaur Music magazine that he was planning on working on music while in jail...which seemed presumptively ambitious, to say the least. It all sounded too good to be true, and yesterday, our worst fears were realized when Lil Wayne was caught with "music contraband" in prison. more ›

Street art or street rat? Whether it was intentional or not, it looks like our newest Sad Rat has briefly become a part of this piece in Brooklyn. R.I.P. street art rat, you didn't die in vain. (And on the upside, this means one less rat in the impending ratdemic that is taking over the city.) more ›

Leave some for us! Pure Dark, the chocolate shop on Bleecker Street in the West Village, was recently visited by an unwelcome customer after closing time. Is that not the cutest little rat since Sad Rat stole our hearts? more ›

As the Department of Health cuts down on pest patrolers, word is that Brighton Beach has been taken over by rats! Ratdemic is upon us. One resident took some video of the neighborhood's visitors (seen below), which some believe came from a huge rat's nest underground. The nest was allegedly disturbed as construction started near the 8th Street Bridge. Another resident told Eyewitness News that the rodents now "walk around like it's their block." more ›

A study conducted on three groups of lab rats has provided some interesting insights into what might possibly drive humans to binge on fatty, high calorie food. In a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers studied the rats for 40 days. One group was fed "regular" rat food (whatever that means); another got bacon, sausage, cheesecake, etc., for just one hour each day; and the third group received access to the unhealthy foods for up to 23 hours a day. The third group's unlimited binging changed their brains. more ›

Officer Frank Palestro, the latest cop to call foul on corruption in the NYPD, has gotten serious flak from his fellow police and the union, though he maintains he was just doing his duty. The union delegate and nine-year police veteran was outed after secretly reporting Lt. Susana Seda for behavior such as telling cops to write summonses for traffic violations they didn't witness, refusing to take complaints and tampering with a gun at a crime scene. Since then, he's been transferred so he won't have to deal with the wrath of his peers in the precinct. "I was the [Patrolmen's Benevolent Association] delegate, and now I'm labeled a rat for doing what I was supposed to do," said Palestro. "This will stay with me for the rest of my career." more ›