Community Corner

Rats! In Cobble Hill Park?

Locals say the park is riddled with rats.

For years, residents residing near Cobble Hill Park have been complaining about a growing rat problem in the grassy Clinton Street oasis. But this summer the problem, according to park-goers, is at epidemic proportions.  

Every night, just before dusk, dozens of rats, fearless of humans, pop out of their nests in the flowerbed near Congress Street, scurry across the pathway to the trashcans, and run back home with dinner.

On July 14, it was the worst it’s ever been, said Claiborne Milde, a Kane Street resident. That night, the rats ruled the park, said the resident who has been spending time there for seven years. She was sitting with her two young daughters and friends, and the rats swarmed the area, she said. During her evening outing she Tweeted in jest:

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“Brown bagging it in Cobble Hill Park tonight with friends, while kids entertained by rats. That's urban living at its finest.”

Boerum Hill resident Josh Lapidus goes to the park with his family three to four nights a week and said that night in July was out of control, with at least a dozen rats.

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“Tons and tons of rats were running around the entire park, coming out of the rat holes at 4 p.m., which is much earlier than usual,” Lapidus recalled. “There are at least eight to ten rat holes in the flowerbed. One rat even was living in one of the poison boxes.”

Lapidus immediately called 311. He admits the Department of Parks and Recreation did do some rat eradication, but he says the rat holes were not filled in and are still home to many rats. He also said he saw rats in the park last week and stressed that the problem has not been resolved. If you walk by around 6 p.m. you’ll see the rats poking their whiskered muzzles out in the air, Lapidus said.

And these are no regular rats.

“They are brazen," he said. "The rats will jump in front of me, they are not scared of people.” 

But the Parks Department, with help from the Cobble Hill Association, said they have, “maintained vigilance…to combat the issue of rodents in Cobble Hill Park.”

The vermin problem, they said, is due to nearby construction. To combat the rats, the Parks Department said they did more than just the basics. They baited the area, replaced trashcans with lidded ones, and put up additional signage encouraging people to put their trash in the cans.

“They are doing basic stuff. They need to fill in the rat holes,” Lapidus said. “Just baiting the area with poison is not enough.” 

A walk around the park, bordered by Congress Street and Verandah Place, may prove Lapidus right. The departments actions may not have been that “vigilant.” There are only three lidded trashcans and eight uncovered ones. Also, only four rat boxes were found in the flowerbeds.

Problem, epidemic or not, there are many rats in New York City. But that doesn't mean its permissible for parks to be ridden with rodents and the pests should certainly be controlled, he said.

While some neighbors think the rats are out of control, others think it’s not a problem. Clyde Cottingham, who was sitting in the park with his dog Harold, a Dansk-Svensk Gaardhund, said he's never seen a rat. He takes Harold to the park in the afternoon and at night everyday and if there were any rats, Harold, who grew up on a farm and loves to hunt mice, rats and chipmunks, would certainly bring one to his owners feet as a prize. 

“If there were rats here there is no doubt he’d find them. He would sniff them out and dig them out of their nests,” Cottingham said, explaining that he lets Harold off leash so he can run around the flowerbeds, the alleged home of the rats. “So, according to Harold, there are no rats here. But, if they are here, it’s not a serious problem.”

Milde did admit that the baiting has helped and she has seen fewer rats than that fateful July night. But Lapidus still sees them every week. What gets him the most is the rats’ peculiarity and almost humanlike characteristics.  

“I’ve never had a rat stare me in the face while waiting for me to leave so it can do its business,” Lapidus said.


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