We are at war': New York's rat crisis made worse by climate change

The discarded slices of pizza that litter New York’s streets have long fuelled its sizeable population of rats, but now the city’s growing swarm has a new reason to enjoy their home – warming temperatures.

There are no reliable figures on the number of rats in New York
 – estimates range from 250,000 to tens of millions. But experts
 say rat populations are growing. 

City officials have reported an increasing number of calls from residents complaining about rats, and have warned that milder winters are helping them feed and mate longer into the year. And as winters warm up, more frequent outdoor activity by humans is adding to the litter rats thrive upon.

Rat-related complaints have been on the rise over the past four years, with 19,152 calls made to the city last year, an increase of about 10% on 2016. There are no reliable figures on the number of rats in New York – estimates range from 250,000 to tens of millions – but the surge in rat activity has been replicated in other cities. Houston, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia have experienced large increases in calls to pest control.

Read the story from The Guardian by Oliver Milman - “‘We are at war': New York's rat crisis made worse by climate change.”