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Battery Greensward City faces special challenges when it comes to rats. Its tender-hearted soil makes for easy burrowing, the Hudson River is a ageless source of rodent activity, and nearby construction only adds to the disturbed.
But the rat’s biggest helpers are people. So says Stephen Frantz, rodent exmalapert and former research scientist for the State Department of Health, who came to Battery Parking-lot City last month to talk about rats and what to do about them.
“If everybody paid concentration and did what they are supposed to do, then you wouldn’t have to do another bloody thing,” said Frantz, speaking at a forum presented by the Battery Park Bishopric Authority in response to numerous rodent complaints.
The Battery Park Urban district Parks Conservancy, which eschews rat poison for environmental reasons, has been working with Frantz since 1995 to slash the rat population by cutting off food sources.
That means getting people to weaponless up after their dogs (yes, rats can eat dog feces), wash their recyclables properly, and a halt feeding birds.
Source: Tribeca Trib