Rat population falls in New York, partly due to ‘war on rats’ launched in 2022

The “war on rats” launched by former New York Mayor Eric Adams is continuing to pay off. “Reported rat sightings have fallen by nearly a quarter in New York City, declining 22 percent in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same period last year. The city’s sanitation department attributes the improvement to its campaign to move trash off the streets and into sealed containers, depriving rats of an easy food source,” reports The Doomslayer.

Bloomberg notes that

Encounters with the metropolis’s most unloved rodent are a familiar story for New Yorkers, who live in a city some estimate has one rat for every three people. But the rats, by at least one measure, are losing ground.

New York City is on track to record the fewest reported rat sightings since the pandemic. Rat sightings have dropped 22% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, according to data from 311, the non-emergency service portal used to report rodents and request inspections. Sightings typically peak in the summer months, before declining through fall and winter.

The reports have fallen year-over-year every month since November 2024. The city’s Sanitation Department credits the decline to a push started by former Mayor Eric Adams, who declared a ‘war on rats’ in 2022 and began efforts to starve the city’s rodent population of food.

The city installed around 1,100 Empire Bins – large on-street trash bins – in Manhattan Community Board 9, which includes West Harlem, as a pilot program in 2025. The Sanitation Department’s First Deputy Commissioner Javier Lojan said the pilot’s budget was $2.1 million during a City Council committee hearing in March.

The area’s trash has been fully containerized since June 2025, and reported sightings fell 34% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with last year. Residents say the bins have had a major impact.

Seabird populations are soaring in many islands, such as Lundy Island, after large numbers of rats were killed.

Puffins have also returned to the Isle of Muck in northern Ireland, after a successful rat eradication campaign.

“The endangered Palau ground dove is showing signs of recovery on Ulong Island in the Pacific following a successful rat eradication,” reports The Doomslayer.

22 seabird species have returned to Mexico’s Pacific Islands, mainly due to efforts to remove invasive species that killed them or destroyed their habitat.