The Empire State Building. The Statue of Liberty. Central Park. Times Square. A horde of rats sprinting between an underground nest and a restaurant, squeaking and squealing as a group of tourists cheer them on.
New York has never lacked for attractions, but that last one on the list is one of its most unexpected.
As the city grapples with a major rat problem – sightings doubled last year, prompting the mayor to advertise for a “somewhat bloodthirsty” head rat-catcher in December – the rodent issue is, according to some, New York’s latest must-experience trend.
As visitors to New York demand rat action, some of the city’s tour guides have started to add stops at notoriously infested sites, the New York Post reported this week.
It means that rat tourism is fast becoming a boom industry. Kenny Bollwerk, who built a TikTok following by posting videos from around New York, stumbled upon being a rodent guide when he spent “an hour or two” live-streaming rats running around outside a building site in Sunnyside, Queens.
“I was like: ‘Damn, this is bad,’” he said.
“People are walking by, there’s rats running across people’s feet, there’s piles of trash on the sidewalk.”
The response from his viewers was huge. Bollwerk, 36, said more than 10,000 people tuned in live to watch the rats. Bollwerk, who doesn’t like rats, said his intention was to prod the city into coming and getting rid of the rodents. He put out a plea for people to complain to the city’s 311 service, where individuals can complain about rat infestations, and it worked.
“We had probably 100 complaints in one night in this one spot, and the city ended up coming by and getting rid of the rats at the construction site.”
In the process, Bollwerk, who is originally from Missouri and moved to New York in 2019, had found himself an audience of rat enthusiasts. He was inundated with requests to film rats at locations across the city. He began going out filming rats – from a safe distance – three to five times a week, and soon was getting messages from tourists who wanted to join.
“I’ve had a daughter and father, and a husband and wife come with me. Anything you can think of: business owners have come out looking with me. There’ve been people from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; St Louis, Missouri; Oklahoma City; Vancouver, Canada; Los Angeles.
“It’s crazy how much this brings people together.”
More than the tourism aspect, Bollwerk says his unusual new pastime is about trying to help people in the areas besieged by rodents.
“The fact that it’s bringing awareness to an issue, and it’s helping people in their neighborhoods – I think that’s why I keep going out and doing it. And I’m meeting so many cool people through it that I would have never met.”
In the city’s battle against the rats, there are some signs of hope. After a months-long surge New York finally appointed its rat czar in April this year. Kathleen Corradi was charged with getting a handle on “public enemy number one”, Mayor Eric Adams said as he announced the news, and reported rat sightings decreased by 15% in June compared to the year before, Gothamist reported, as the city strives to shed its reputation as a rat haven.
The city has set up “rat mitigation zones” in rat-heavy areas, where officials identify areas with a large rat population and swoop in, armed with rat poison for the rodents and fines for any businesses or property owners who might be encouraging the rats to thrive.
New rules have also been introduced, forcing restaurants to put their food waste into actual containers, rather than following the traditional New York practice of dumping garbage bags on the streets.
“New York City used to be known for our mean streets, but, going forward, we’re going to be known for our clean streets,” Adams said in June.
Despite the efforts of the rat czar and people like Bollwerk, there are plenty of rats still around. On Tuesday, when Bollwerk spoke to the Guardian, he had just received word of a new problematic rat spot in midtown Manhattan.
It was a building site next to a Wendy’s, he said. He planned to go out that night to take a look for himself. Like most New Yorkers, however, he didn’t want to get too close.
“I’m scared of them. Any time one comes running at me I jump. I don’t want them anywhere near me,” Bollwerk said.
