After Sandy's New York Deluge, a Flood of Rats?

Subway survivors: Rats will have outmaneuvered Sandy's underground floods.




"They're in the subway, in spite of the subway," said exterminator Benett Pearlman of New York-based Positive Pest Management Corp. The underground systems are the first things rats reach when breaking through the soil in search of sustenance. This perpetual hunger likely killed many as floodwaters washed back through their tunnels into their nests, probably killing the sick, the elderly, and new mothers with their young.

The many thousands that made it out alive—most using the same stairways people use, Pearlman said—were trapped aboveground on Tuesday, hunkering down behind trash bins and under cars until nightfall.


As for New York's other ubiquitous wildlife, Tufts University animal behaviorist Robert Cook thinks pigeons are in an excellent position when the city is flooded and windy. They're originally cliff-dwelling birds, so skyscrapers suit them, Cook said. They'll find a safe place to get out of the wind, then fly to new food sources.

"There's a reason rats and pigeons are so successful around humans," he says, "They're well adapted to what we do."