I was once standing outside a night club in Brooklyn, next to a construction site, when a rat came charging around the corner being chased by a cat. The rat smacked straight into my ankle and bounced off, briefly stunned. The cat also froze, trying to take in the situation. A split second later they charged down the sidewalk into the gloom.

The rat was so big my ankle hurt the rest of the night.

When my wife lived in NYC she was walking home one night when there were an unusually large number of rats running around. She noticed that Fred Armisen (actor, comedian) was walking down the middle of the street next to her, and he looked at her and said something to the effect of "What's with all these rats?!".

I love Armisen. The skit he did with Malkovich about a calculator is my favorite thing ever.

He recently did a show in my city. Before the show he visited the art museum where my wife works as a curator. He spent a good amount of time chatting with the staff, and then mentioned how nice the museum was during his show that night.

Completely unrelated, but it was fairly recent and I found it super charming. He’s always been one of those celebrities I want to like.

POV: you're the foreground art in a Tom & Jerry cartoon

Who is responsible for picking up a dead rat in NYC? The biggest rat I ever saw was a dead one on William St and as an alien I wasn’t really sure what the protocol was. No one else around paid any attention to it.

That would be DHMH[1] or Sanitation, maybe. You may be able to put a report in via 311, but I wouldn't count on a timely response (unless you count "a bigger rat eats the already big rat" as a response).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Department_of_He...

Call 311 or use their online form.

I don't think I ever saw a rat on my dozen plus trips to NYC, but since moving here several years ago I have seen more than I can count. Many of those were in 2020 when I would see large groups (5-10) roaming around at night in search of dwindling food sources.

From a subway platform, look carefully at the tracks. I'd say a ~ 75% chance to spot a furry friend.

Lived in NYC for 5 years and saw my fair share! Definitely not small ones

Strangely enough, where I saw the most rat ever (by far) was early evening around the mall in DC.