An unlikely solution to NYC rat problem: Rodent-slaying dogs

Updated 8:04 AM; Posted 8:00 AM
GRAPHIC CONTENT: Dogs hunting rats in NYC

By Shira Stoll

sstoll@siadvance.com

MANHATTAN -- Members of R.A.T.S., the Ryders Alley Trencher-fed Society, are hunting rats to help rid New York City of its rodent problem.

"You'll never get rid of rats ever," says Richard Reynolds, of Tenafly, N.J., founder of R.A.T.S. "You only try to control it, manage it."

Founded in 1995, R.A.T.S. is "an eclectic group of residents of New York and New Jersey bound together only by their devotion to terriers and other breeds of dog that were originally bred to seek and destroy vermin," according to the organization's Facebook page.

The group is limited to eight dogs (usually terriers) per night -- "that makes for a good team," says Reynolds. "If you had to find an average, [we hunt] once a week."

Usually after a hunt, the rats are put back into the trash, but Reynolds says that sometimes the hunters collect DNA samples for Fordham University, and whole carcasses for studies on rats at Columbia University.

In addition to hunting the rats, they often weigh them. Anything over five pounds is considered a "trophy rat."

In a 2013 New York Times report, an NYPD spokeswoman is quoted as saying that there is no information available on the legality of using dogs to hunt rats in the city.

Westerleigh resident Susan Friedenberg and her dog Tanner, 14, are old-time members of R.A.T.S. -- she can recall taking Tanner on his first hunt in 2004.

Reynolds speaks highly of Tanner: "In his day, he was the number one star of our organization, and he was an awesome killer of rats, of woodchucks, and just a hunter that would take your breath away."

Watch the above video to see Tanner and the R.A.T.S. in action.


http://www.silive.com/news/2017/11/rats.html

 

Check out the video in the link.....

 

They should promote clubs like these Gives people .who can only keep small dogs something to do