TikToker Offers Tours of NYC Rat Infestations

The Empire State Building. The Statue of Liberty. Central Park. Times Square. A horde of rats sprinting between an underground nest and a restaurant, squeaking and squealing as a group of tourists cheer them on. 

 

New York has never lacked for attractions – but that last one on the list is one of its most unexpected. 

 

As the city grapples with a major rat problem – sightings doubled last year, prompting the mayor to advertise for a “somewhat bloodthirsty” head rat-catcher in December – read my blog post “Wanted: Director of Rodent Migration” published December 06, 2022. Anyway, the rodent issue is, according to some, New York’s latest must-experience trend. 

 

As visitors to New York demand rat action, some of the city’s tour guides have started to add stops at notoriously infested sites, the New York Post reported last week. It means that rat tourism is fast becoming a boom industry.

 

Kenny Bollwerk (left), who built a TikTok following by posting videos from around New York, stumbled upon being a rodent guide when he spent “an hour or two” live-streaming rats running around outside a building site in Sunnyside, Queens. 

 

“I was like: ‘Damn, this is bad’,” he said. “People are walking by, there’s rats running across people’s feet, there’s piles of trash on the sidewalk”. 

 

The response from his viewers was huge. The 36-year-old TikToker said more than 10,000 people tuned in live to watch the rats. Bollwerk, who doesn’t like rats, said his intention was to prod the city into coming and getting rid of the rodents. He put out a plea for people to complain to the city’s 311 service, where individuals can complain about rat infestations, and it worked. 

 

“We had probably 100 complaints in one night in this one spot, and the city ended up coming by and getting rid of the rats at the construction site”. 

 

In the process, Bollwerk, who is originally from Missouri and moved to New York in 2019, had found himself an audience of rat enthusiasts. He was inundated with requests to film rats at locations across the city. 

 

He began going out filming rats – from a safe distance – three to five times a week, and soon was getting messages from tourists who wanted to join. 

 

More than the tourism aspect, Bollwerk says his unusual new pastime is about trying to help people in the areas besieged by rodents. 

 

In the city’s battle against the rats, there are some signs of hope. After a months-long surge New York finally appointed its rat czar in April this year. Kathleen Corradi was charged with getting a handle on “public enemy number one”, Mayor Eric Adams said as he announced the news, and reported rat sightings decreased by 15% in June compared to the year before, Gothamist reported, as the city strives to shed its reputation as a rat haven. 

 

The city has set up “rat mitigation zones” in rat-heavy areas, where officials identify areas with a large rat population and swoop in, armed with rat poison for the rodents and fines for any businesses or property owners who might be encouraging the rats to thrive. 

 

New rules have also been introduced, forcing restaurants to put their food waste into actual containers, rather than following the traditional New York practice of dumping garbage bags on the streets. 

 

Despite the efforts of the rat czar and people like Bollwerk, there are still plenty of rats around. According to M and M Pest Control, the rat population of New York City has grown to 3 million! (PIX11 Morning News, August 22, 2023). Note that the company used the same methodology as the New York statistician, who estimated that the rat population was at 2 million in 2014. 

 

I reckon nobody should expect an end to the rat scourge.