In a city that’s always fighting rats, one woman has decided to embrace them.
Suzanne Reisman, a self-proclaimed “rat whisperer,” leads a Garbage & Rats walking tour through some of Manhattan’s filthiest alleys and corners. For $40 a ticket, guests follow her through the underbelly of New York, learning about rodent sex habits (up to 20 times a day), rat history, and how dog poop functions as an urban snack bar. “They’ll kick through it, find the undigested kibble,” she explained. “I do not ever pass by dog poop anymore without thinking, ‘Oh, it’s a rat snack.’”
She wears fuzzy rat ears on her head and treats the two-hour tour like a cross between a sanitation field trip and an urban wildlife safari. Guests are introduced to the Norway rat—a misleading name, since they’re actually from Asia—and learn how they arrived on Hessian ships in the 1700s and basically never left. “They take a look around and think, ‘Jackpot,’” Reisman told The New York Post. “They are just beyond super happy.”
You Can Take a Rat Tour Through New York City
At one stop, a dachshund-sized rat darted out of the bushes. People reacted like birdwatchers spotting a rare hawk. Another highlight is the old site of Sportsmen’s Hall, where 19th-century gamblers used to bet on dogs fighting rats. It’s gross, historic, and, somehow, very New York.
Reisman knows her stuff. She’s a graduate of the city’s Rat Academy and a member of the “Rat Pack,” a group of anti-rat activists trained by the sanitation department. She’ll explain why the 1968 sanitation strike changed everything, how black trash bags became rat invitations, and what the city’s new “Empire Bins” are doing to help.
The tours regularly sell out. Some visitors are just freakishly curious. Others, like Boston native Caroline Murray, are nostalgic for a grittier version of New York. “We saw live rats. We saw a pancake rat. We saw a guy throwing up in a gutter,” she said. “It was a very New York experience.”
Reisman hopes the city’s trash problem gets better. But as long as the rats are here, she’s happy to introduce you. “If we really cut down on access to food, that would help significantly,” she said. The city never sleeps, and neither do its rats.