to kill off rats — with booze!
Animal lovers condemn
beep’s rat arms race
COURIER LIFE, SEPT. 13-19, 2019 3
advocated for a rat trap that drowns rodents in an alcoholic solution. Photos by Colin Mixson
OH, RATS!: The Borough President’s offi ce hosted a demonstration of
the new rat-trapping technology.
BY ROSE ADAMS
Think of the rats!
Animal rights activists
slammed Borough President
Eric Adams for the
gruesome publicity stunt
he pulled outside Borough
Hall on Thursday, when
he displayed about a dozen
drowned rats to reporters
to promote his new “humane”
rat trap.
“Any veterinarian in
the world would tell you
that drowning is an incredibly
inhumane way
to kill a mammal,” wrote
members of the Brooklyn
organization, Voters for
Animal Rights, in a letter
to Adams . “Cheerleading
for the killing of living animals
sends a dangerous
and destructive message.”
The borough president’s
Sept. 5 press conference was
intended to demonstrate
the success of his new favorite
rat trap, which lures
rodents with sunfl ower
seeds into a vat of alcohol,
intoxicating the vermin
and eventually drowning
them. But while Adams,
himself a vegan, hailed the
traps as “humane” because
of their rapid rat-killing
abilities and the boozy delirium
they induce, activists
argued that the contraptions
cause the rodents
undue suffering.
“Rats are intelligent,
sentient animals who feel
pain, and suffer, just like
all other animals,” the activists
wrote in the letter,
signed by dozens of animal
rights and veganism advocates.
“Rats live emotionally
rich lives, form strong
inter-species bonds, have
rituals, and mourn family
losses.”
Rather than kill the
rats, the animal lovers proposed
that the city work to
improve rat-proof infrastructure,
implement sterilization
programs, and
even teach residents to see
the bright side of life with
rats and live in harmony
with the pesky critters.
“It is unrealistic and
impractical, if not absurd,
to think New York
City’s entire rat population
can be eradicated,”
the activists wrote. “Just
as humans can coexist
with squirrels, birds, and
other wildlife elsewhere
in our city, we can and
must strive to tolerate the
presence of rats to some
degree.”
The advocates are also
peeved about being left
out of Adams’ rat-catching
plan, saying they could
have told him to abandon
the scheme months ago
and saved everybody the
trouble — especially the
rats!
“The lack of inclusion
of the animal advocacy
community about your
decision, coupled with
your offi ce’s dismissive response
to our reaction, has
been very disappointing
and frankly unacceptable.
Had you invited us into
the planning stages, this
confl ict could have been
avoided,” they wrote.
Adams responded to
the angry activists by saying
that, while he believes
in funding research for alternative
traps, the health
concerns that the rodents
pose require immediate action.
“While we embrace
fast-tracking research on
alternative rat mitigation
measures such as sterilization,
human lives - including
children and the
elderly - are at risk and we
need a more effective approach
to addressing this
exploding infestation,”
Adams said.
successful,” Adams said, adding
that the new devices only
cost between $300 and $400 a
piece, including maintenance.
And, while Adams noted
that the city has no plans to
continue installing Rat Traps,
he hopes to use discretionary
funds to expand the program
around Borough Hall, speak
to the health offi cials and city
council members about implementing
the devices, and
launch two more pilot programs
at a public housing
development and in Bedford-
Stuyvesant.
“Our goal here at Borough
Hall is to really look at the
problem and come up with
solutions, and we believe we
found just that,” he said.
INHUMANE: Brooklyn Borough
President Eric Adams
demonstated Rat Trap’s new
rodent-killing contraption last
Thursday.