Rats running rampant in Astoria

One day last month, Kevin O’Neill was walking his golden retriever through his Astoria neighborhood when a rat attacked his dog leaving a vicious cut that sent the dog to the hospital.
“I had to get antibiotics for the dog’s infection,” said O’Neill who lives on 30th Street in Astoria and believes a rat infestation might be overtaking his neighborhood.
“It’s been going on for a couple of weeks now,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill is not the only one in his community that has seen an increase in rodents. While campaigning for New York State Senate, Thomas Dooley was shocked at the amount of rats he saw in one location.
“I was surprised and disturbed to see a large Norway rat about 14 inches long,” Dooley said. “It was running back and forth in the garbage carrying food in its mouth. Perhaps even more disturbing was that it was not alone. There was a steady stream of different rats, perhaps dozens.”
Dooley began taking photos of the critters with the intention of filing a complaint, when nearby residents gathered around expressing their concern and outrage at the problem. Dooley believes that the rats might be coming from the construction site that is next to O’Neill’s residence or from the Trade Fair supermarket that is on 30th Avenue and 30th Street.
“The people that live near the Trade Fair are aware of the rats,” O’Neill pointed out. He said that the supermarket has its dumpster open, overflowing with food, welcoming the rats.
However, not everyone in the community has seen the rats.
“We haven’t had any new information about the issue,” said Andrew Moesel, spokesperson from City Councilmember Peter Vallone’s office.
Lucille Hartmann, district manager of Community Board 1, which includes Astoria and Long Island City, said that her office had not heard anything about the situation from any resident.
“No complaints have been called in,” Hartmann said.
Being a firefighter, Dooley has encountered these types of rodents when going through rubble of a burnt building, but he never thought the rats would come out during the daytime, too.
“I have long been under the impression that rats shunned the day, but for some reason this did not seem to bother these particular rodents,” Dooley said.
The first time he saw the rats, Dooley called 3-1-1 to place his complaint, and they told him that they would look into the problem in 30 days. When he called again on October 3, they told him they would look into it in 20 days. Filing a new complaint would start over the 30-day process.
“I’m sure they’re not going to do anything about it,” Dooley said