from Hacker News

NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

by momirlan on 11/9/23, 1:48 PM with 92 comments

• by otoburb on 11/9/23, 2:32 PM

  >>[...] a lot of people don't want to give up street parking spots for garbage containers.

  This is an understatement. A New Yorker with a car that doesn't/can't pay the monthly indoor garage fees will fight tooth and nail for street parking.

• by lalaland1125 on 11/9/23, 2:24 PM

  The real solution is quite simple: trash cans

  The reason why NYC has such a rat epidemic is because they literally throw their trash bags on the street. Which leads to some getting ripped open and leaving food for pests.

• by dafsdsafdsaf on 11/9/23, 3:05 PM

  "A female rat typically births six litters a year consisting of up to 12 rat pups, although 5-10 pups are more common. Rats reach sexual maturity after nine weeks, meaning that a population can swell from two rats to around 1,250 in one year, with the potential to grow exponentially."[1]

  Unless you kill all of them at once and set up some sort of impossibly perfect rat detection system to kill the ones in every building and trash can, how is killing something like on the order of 10 female-year progeny even news? It's like putting a piece of masking tape over a water main break. You have to reduce their food, their ability to reproduce, etc.

  https://www.rentokil.com/us/about/blog/all-industries/quickl...

• by otoburb on 11/9/23, 2:39 PM

  The original NYC "Director of Rodent Mitigation" Rat Czar job posting was hilarious, but completely serious. The municipal government took down the job posting once it was filled, but copies are still floating around for posterity[1].

  [1] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11493659/Seeking-le...

• by joecool1029 on 11/9/23, 2:40 PM

  Need to lift that ferret ban, let the ferrets work.

• by eschulz on 11/9/23, 2:44 PM

  Has the option for rat birth control failed?

  https://time.com/6264623/rat-birth-control-poison-contrapest...

• by cpfohl on 11/9/23, 2:50 PM

  I'm confused what dry ice has to do with carbon monoxide...they lost me there...

• by lawlessone on 11/9/23, 3:45 PM

  They reproduce fast.

  I wonder will some of them eventually evolve some tolerance and/or ability to sense the carbon monoxide, so they can escape before there is too much of it?

• by zinodaur on 11/9/23, 2:58 PM

  > "It's really a cultural issue. It doesn't have to be that way."

  > "overflowing garbage cans"

  Hmm something doesn't add up here

• by ryanjodonnell on 11/9/23, 3:00 PM

  When I see articles like this, I can't stop myself from thinking what if we're the rats in the eyes of AI.

• by Eumenes on 11/9/23, 2:37 PM

  How about giant glue traps?