Planning a trip to New York City soon and looking for something special? Perhaps a “rat tour” would be something for you. Mice tourism now prosperous In the American city that has been plagued by many rat epidemics.
From the iconic Empire State Building to serene Central Park, mice are an integral part of today’s New York streets. Reports of rats have multiplied in the past year, prompting Mayor Eric Adams to hire the city’s first piper.
Since then, the mice have become a tourist attraction. City guides make good use of this by adding a few stops to their notoriously high rat population tours.
The famous “rat guide” is Kenny Bolwerk, who takes tourists on a rat-hunting tour of the city about five times a week. Kenny started these tours after walking the streets of New York for two hours filming insects live on TikTok. Afterwards he was shocked at the large number of rats he encountered. “I said to myself, ‘Damn it, this is bad,'” he told the Guardian. “People are walking, mice are walking on people’s feet, and there are piles of rubbish on the sidewalk.”
Draw attention to the rat problem
His viewers were also impressed and Kenny quickly gained a lot of followers. He’s received an avalanche of requests from his followers to photograph insects in various locations and from people asking if they could go with him sometime. “A daughter, a father, a man and a woman have already come with me.” He said businessmen also like to go on Kenny rat rides. “It’s crazy how this brings people together.”
Kenny himself doesn’t like mice very much. “I’m afraid of them. Every time someone comes at me, I jump up. I don’t want them near me.” He does these tours mainly to draw attention to the growing rat problem in the city and to help people. “The fact that it brings awareness to a problem and helps people in their neighborhood – I think that’s why I keep doing it. And I meet a lot of nice people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
Pied Piper
In April, the first Pied Piper is set in New York. Then Kathleen Corradi, the new director of rodent control, said: “Rats and the conditions that contribute to their spread will not be tolerated. Dirty footpaths, deserted spaces and shamelessly dug holes are a thing of the past.
In addition, the city has designated “rat control zones” where officials armed with rat poison will intervene. Businesses or residents who promote rat counts will be fined. New rules have also been introduced for restaurants that require them to throw leftovers in waste containers instead of putting garbage bags on the street.
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