Rodent Complaints Come From Everywhere in New York City

In the 2017 Walt Disney Pictures animated/live-action film "Enchanted," the fairy-tale princess Giselle is transported to New York City by an evil queen. Lost in a world where few people believe in magic, she finds shelter with a kind little girl and her single father.

To repay their kindness, Giselle summons the city’s animals to help her clean the apartment. (She is, after all, a Disney princess, and her songs can command creatures.)

But instead of cheerful birds or rabbits, the helpers that appear are rats and mice.

In real life, these rodents don’t lend a helping paw. They are considered pests, and New Yorkers frequently complain about them.

This just in: pizza ratS pic.twitter.com/bpxBv5oupM

— Abbi Crutchfield (@curlycomedy) March 20, 2022

According to a New York Times report, more than 21,000 rodent sightings were called in to 311 between January and November 2021 — about a 20 percent increase from the same period in 2019.

Among the suspected causes are outdoor dining sheds, a pandemic-era measure. Abandoned sheds in particular have been described as “rodent playpens.”

Rats are instinctively drawn to food waste, and outdoor dining often leaves scraps behind. But are rodents really most common near restaurants?

An analysis of 311 complaint data and restaurant inspection records between April 2021 and February 2022 suggests otherwise. On the map below, blue dots mark inspected restaurants, while orange dots mark locations where residents reported rats or mice.

Sightings are frequent even in areas with relatively few restaurants — including Harlem and the neighborhoods around Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

Although the data cover only a limited period, they suggest that restaurants and outdoor dining are not the sole reason. Rodents are, quite simply, everywhere in the city.