By: Sophia Wang

Libby Denault has been taking her car to the same auto shop for 8 years, and they’ve always done an excellent job for her repairs. However, the auto shop was perplexed when the “check engine” signal on Libby’s car kept flashing, even though the car was perfectly fine.

They ran some tests and eventually found out that a rat had chewed through a sensor wire, leaving Libby with a $700 bill.

Rats who live in the hoods of cars are not unheard of, but in these past few years, since the pandemic, they’ve been sighted more and more frequently. A study found that 20 out of 28 mechanics reported that there has recently been an increase in rats, with 10 of them saying that the number of rats has doubled since covid.

“I see new cars, old cars, everyone is coming in now with these rat problems,” said Ozzy Dayan, a mechanic in Manhattan, “It brings me a lot of business, but it’s disgusting.”

Not only have rats been sighted more frequently in cars, but they’ve also been sighted more frequently in general. This is because, during the pandemic, many stores and restaurants closed down, since rats get their main source of food from restaurant leftovers, they had to find a new way of living and finding food.

These rats have adapted to new behaviors, instead of only sticking to one specific food source, they’ve been making risky runs through the city to get to other sources. As restaurants and stores have begun to open again, rats have been sticking to their new way of life, and they’ve expanded on their tactics. Now, they’re known to sometimes attack and eat dead pigeons or even other rats.

“Rats can adjust to human behavioral shifts very quickly,” said Jason Munshi-South, a biology professor at Fordham. “So when the pandemic altered our behavior, it impacted the rats as well.”

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