The Vigilante Group Of New Yorkers Who Hunt Rats At Night

Rats aren’t only a part of New York City’s underground — they’re an inseparable part of its pop culture. There’s Master Splinter from the Ninja Turtles, Pizza Rat, and even Cannibal Rat. But for every celebrity rat, there’s another 250,000 to 2 million anonymous rodents living in the city — and the city health department is fighting to bring down. The battle can be deadly. Last year, three people in a Bronx city block contracted leptospirosis through rat urine. Only two survived. To combat the problem, Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a $32 million initiative to rid New York of its signature rodents, concentrating on hyper-infested areas that the city describes as “rat reservoirs.“