A new tactic killed ‘nearly 100%’ of rats on an Upper East Side street

The once-rampant population of rats on Manhattan’s East 86th Street has nearly been exterminated, according to one councilmember.

Councilmember Julie Menin says she’s discovered a rat-killing method – in which an exterminator pumps carbon monoxide into burrows in sidewalk tree pits – that’s been so effective on East 86th Street between Second Avenue to Park Avenue she’s expanding it to other parts of the neighborhood.

“We launched this mitigation effort starting on the East 86th Street corridor, which was a corridor of enormous complaints, because we've got so many retail stores there and a tremendous amount of trash – and we had unbelievable success in terms of this technique,” Menin said, touting the elimination of more than 100 rat burrows. “And so now I'm launching it again on other streets within the district.”

Mayor Eric Adams has made the war on rats a key platform of his administration. Some weapons have proven more useful than others. An attempt to sterilize rats in Bryant Park was unsuccessful. The mayor himself has also been fined for infestations outside his home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, despite deploying a drowning device near his garbage cans. But there’s signs of progress – rat complaints are down citywide, and new approaches to garbage collection are reducing rats’ access to free trash meals.

Menin said she learned about the carbon monoxide method after researching extermination efforts in other cities like Boston. She then hired a local exterminator, Urban Pest Management, to fumigate burrows in tree pits starting last year.

“The method demonstrated an impressive eradication rate of nearly 100% in the tree pits where it was applied,” her office said in a release.

Menin has allocated a total of $30,000 in supplemental sanitation funds to the technique. The exterminators use mobile motors, called Burrow Rx, that pump carbon monoxide into rat burrows to kill the vermin where they sleep.

The carbon monoxide that leaks out from the burrows is safe for humans, pets and other animals because it dissipates in the air – much like exhaust from running vehicles is only deadly without ventilation, said Matthew Deodato, president of Urban Pest Management.

The Burrow Rx machine uses vegetable oil to create smoke so Deodato can visually track where the fumes are being directed – and to ensure no carbon monoxide is traveling toward unventilated underground offices or homes.

Deodato carries a spiked garden hoe to finish off any rats that manage to flee the burrows and escape the fumes. He said he tries to avoid killing the rodents in public.

“People are still sensitive about watching something die,” he said. “They get a little upset – even if it's a rat.”

Andrew Fine, secretary and treasurer of the East 86th Street Association, said in a statement from Menin’s office that the program is a “resounding success” in killing off 100 burrows, and now the street needs only “occasional maintenance of one or two” burrows.

“This is not the panacea that's going to solve all of New York City's rat problems, but it's a very effective tool for the tree pit issue,” Menin said.

Her expanded program is coming to other locations based on constituent complaints, including East 75th Street between Second and Third Avenues. She said she’s received more complaints about rats on that block due to an active construction site and compost bins overflowing with garbage outside of Robert Wagner Middle School.

On a recent visit to the block, Deodato pointed to a hole dug in a tree pit behind the school, where he said a rat had recently tried to bring a bag of apple slices into a burrow. He guided the Burrow Rx hose deep into the hole and began pumping.

“If nothing comes out, they just basically go to sleep and die in the carbon monoxide,” he said.

No rats emerged.

New Yorkers can report sightings of rats in tree pits on the Upper East Side to Menin’s office by emailing District5@council.nyc.gov or calling 212-860-1950. Rat complaints can also be submitted to 311.