I am going to let you in on a little secret. Don't tell anyone - this is something you will not read in a travel book or be told by a travel agent. Consider it privileged information.
Now that my Australian friends and I had arrived in New York City, it was time to do the one mandatory thing any visitor must do while touring the Big Apple. It was time for us to find a subway rat.
This is not a joke - no trip to Manhattan is complete without a rodent run-in, and since Andrew and his family had traveled halfway across the globe to get there, I was determined not to disappoint. But first, let me share with you the secret and significance of discovering a genuine New York City subway rat.
Like any major metropolitan area, the underground of New York City is infested with rats. They proliferate in the subway tunnels; they thrive in the dank, cool, moist caverns beneath the urban jungle. They creep along in the shadows, scurry about in back alleys, pick through the refuse and cesspools that collect along the subway platforms.
Although city officials have toyed with various methods of keeping the rat population at bay, spending millions on everything from rodenticide to a proposed mass sterilization project, the average New Yorker seems to take living with subterranean vermin in stride. It has been estimated that there are four times as many rats in New York City as there are people, meaning there could be as many as 30 million rodents scurrying about. The bottom line: Rats are a part of life in Gotham. More than once while touring Manhattan I heard a local exclaim, "Well you know you've had an authentic New York experience when you see a subway rat."
New Yorkers went so far as to have a contest for the ugliest city rat. A website was created, "Rate my Rat," which allows New Yorkers to submit and vote for photos of the nastiest rats caught on camera. The Transport Workers Union even gave away a free, unlimited metro card to whoever submitted the most grotesque rat of them all. New Yorkers entered all kinds of photos - including some of the mayor. The winner was an uncharacteristically ghastly rat missing some of its hair, and with streaks of white in its mangy backside. To see the photo, go to www.metro.us and do a simple search for "winner rate my rat."
With that said, you realize the significance of coming across a rat while touring New York City. The funny thing is, my wife Ashley is always the first one to notice a rat. This is funny, because rats literally give her the heebie-jeebies. I can spend minutes scouring the subway tracks, peering behind garbage bags, or squinting into shadows, whereas she will literally look down and see one at her feet.
On one occasion, I led Ashley, Andrew, Belinda, and their two boys into an empty New York subway station for the sole purpose of finding a rat. The boys and I were determined to unearth one, but it was Ashley who discovered the rodent, which was literally on the platform sniffing and picking its way in our direction. The animal was completely indifferent to our presence. We watched the plump little creature drag its hairless tail ever closer, bare paws padding against the cold dank concrete, whiskers flicking up and down as it sniffed along. I believe the rat would have crawled right up someone's leg - probably Ashley's - had we allowed it.
On another occasion we were exiting a subway station, and rats were not even on our minds. Sure enough, New York City never fails to excite - Ashley noticed a rat picking at the base of a MetroCard kiosk, totally oblivious to the hoards of passersby.
As the saying goes, it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt. By far my favorite rat story to come out of New York City involved a freakishly large, mutated sewer rat. For years, rumors of gigantic rats have been circulated, which tend to be published somewhere between sightings of UFOs and Elvis. Almost always, a grainy low-resolution and probably doctored image accompanies the story.
Except this time, it was real.
In August 2011, just two years ago, a photo surfaced of a giant rat killed in the Marcy Housing project in Brooklyn. Residents there had long complained of enormous rats, so big "(We ought to) charge them rent," as one tenant exclaimed. People had reported seeing giant rats, as many as eight at a time, but this was the first time one had been pictured.
Finally, a housing worker managed to kill one with a fork. Literally, he speared the humongous rat on a "pitchfork," according to the article. The animal weighed over two pounds and measured some three feet in length, including the tail. The photo and accompanying story is worth looking up. Do a simple Google search of "giant rat killed NYC" and click on the article by the New York Daily News; it should be the second or third result.
I have to tell you that I find the whole thing offensive. Seriously, they reported that a pitchfork killed the rat. Silly New Yorkers - can't they see that it was clearly a barley fork?
- Dan Wegmueller of Monroe writes a column for the Times each Tuesday. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
Now that my Australian friends and I had arrived in New York City, it was time to do the one mandatory thing any visitor must do while touring the Big Apple. It was time for us to find a subway rat.
This is not a joke - no trip to Manhattan is complete without a rodent run-in, and since Andrew and his family had traveled halfway across the globe to get there, I was determined not to disappoint. But first, let me share with you the secret and significance of discovering a genuine New York City subway rat.
Like any major metropolitan area, the underground of New York City is infested with rats. They proliferate in the subway tunnels; they thrive in the dank, cool, moist caverns beneath the urban jungle. They creep along in the shadows, scurry about in back alleys, pick through the refuse and cesspools that collect along the subway platforms.
Although city officials have toyed with various methods of keeping the rat population at bay, spending millions on everything from rodenticide to a proposed mass sterilization project, the average New Yorker seems to take living with subterranean vermin in stride. It has been estimated that there are four times as many rats in New York City as there are people, meaning there could be as many as 30 million rodents scurrying about. The bottom line: Rats are a part of life in Gotham. More than once while touring Manhattan I heard a local exclaim, "Well you know you've had an authentic New York experience when you see a subway rat."
New Yorkers went so far as to have a contest for the ugliest city rat. A website was created, "Rate my Rat," which allows New Yorkers to submit and vote for photos of the nastiest rats caught on camera. The Transport Workers Union even gave away a free, unlimited metro card to whoever submitted the most grotesque rat of them all. New Yorkers entered all kinds of photos - including some of the mayor. The winner was an uncharacteristically ghastly rat missing some of its hair, and with streaks of white in its mangy backside. To see the photo, go to www.metro.us and do a simple search for "winner rate my rat."
With that said, you realize the significance of coming across a rat while touring New York City. The funny thing is, my wife Ashley is always the first one to notice a rat. This is funny, because rats literally give her the heebie-jeebies. I can spend minutes scouring the subway tracks, peering behind garbage bags, or squinting into shadows, whereas she will literally look down and see one at her feet.
On one occasion, I led Ashley, Andrew, Belinda, and their two boys into an empty New York subway station for the sole purpose of finding a rat. The boys and I were determined to unearth one, but it was Ashley who discovered the rodent, which was literally on the platform sniffing and picking its way in our direction. The animal was completely indifferent to our presence. We watched the plump little creature drag its hairless tail ever closer, bare paws padding against the cold dank concrete, whiskers flicking up and down as it sniffed along. I believe the rat would have crawled right up someone's leg - probably Ashley's - had we allowed it.
On another occasion we were exiting a subway station, and rats were not even on our minds. Sure enough, New York City never fails to excite - Ashley noticed a rat picking at the base of a MetroCard kiosk, totally oblivious to the hoards of passersby.
As the saying goes, it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt. By far my favorite rat story to come out of New York City involved a freakishly large, mutated sewer rat. For years, rumors of gigantic rats have been circulated, which tend to be published somewhere between sightings of UFOs and Elvis. Almost always, a grainy low-resolution and probably doctored image accompanies the story.
Except this time, it was real.
In August 2011, just two years ago, a photo surfaced of a giant rat killed in the Marcy Housing project in Brooklyn. Residents there had long complained of enormous rats, so big "(We ought to) charge them rent," as one tenant exclaimed. People had reported seeing giant rats, as many as eight at a time, but this was the first time one had been pictured.
Finally, a housing worker managed to kill one with a fork. Literally, he speared the humongous rat on a "pitchfork," according to the article. The animal weighed over two pounds and measured some three feet in length, including the tail. The photo and accompanying story is worth looking up. Do a simple Google search of "giant rat killed NYC" and click on the article by the New York Daily News; it should be the second or third result.
I have to tell you that I find the whole thing offensive. Seriously, they reported that a pitchfork killed the rat. Silly New Yorkers - can't they see that it was clearly a barley fork?
- Dan Wegmueller of Monroe writes a column for the Times each Tuesday. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
