The reason NYC has such a bad rat infestation is they outlawed street and basement store cats! Stupid animal welfare people refused decades ago to cooperate with a community cat spay and release program there. Up until the 1980s, every street used to have couple of strays people took care of that controlled the vermin. Without them this is the results. This is one reason I left NYC 17 years ago as well, the animal control people and the dogs.