Posts Tagged ‘New YOrk sandy’
David Bowie was right: freed by Hurricane Sandy rats attack New York
HURRICANE Sandy was bad. Can it be made worse? Watch out for the…
RATS!
Lynne Peeples spots rats:
…storm waters from Hurricane Sandy flood rats out of their underground residences, according to Rick Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Milbrook, N.Y.
“Rats are incredibly good swimmers,” said Ostfeld. “And they can climb.” In other words, Sandy is unlikely to knock off the resilient rodents, but rather displace them.
According to Ostfeld, this could result in increased risk of infectious diseases carried by urban rats, including leptospirosis, hantavirus, typhus, salmonella, and even the plague. “One of things we know can exacerbate disease is massive dispersal,” he added. “Rats are highly social individuals and live in a fairly stable social structure. If this storm disturbs that, rats could start infesting areas they never did before.”
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