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The great New York rat war

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circa 1900: Black rats foraging near a trap.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

circa 1900: Black rats foraging near a trap. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

When Tristan Ahtone moved to New York City three years ago to pursue a career in journalism, he quickly found himself in a war with the city’s most reviled squatters: rattus norvegicus – the dreaded brown rat.

It’s been said there are eight-million stories in the city of New York, but there are about the same ammount of rats… Give or take a few million.

While there’s no such thing as a rat census, if you look, you’ll find them, and sometimes, they find you.

This is one New York story – one story with a lot of vermin.

Tristan Ahtone is a digital media, arts & entertainment intern at NPR.

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2 comments for “The great New York rat war”

  1. [...] heart, a meticulously researched look at D.C.’s Go-Go music scene, and a very, very funny discussion of battling rats in a New York apartment that, unfortunately, brought back memories of my time in [...]

    Posted by NPR Interns On James Baldwin, Butter, Flashmobs, And More – 7th Edition : The Daily Digest | July 31, 2009, 1:41 pm
  2. [...] heart, a meticulously researched look at D.C.’s Go-Go music scene, and a very, very funny discussion of battling rats in a New York apartment that, unfortunately, brought back memories of my time in [...]

    Posted by NPR Interns On James Baldwin, Butter, Flashmobs, And More – 21th Edition | The Daily Digest | August 1, 2009, 11:56 am

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