Wild cats chase away city’s rats

RESOURCEFUL New Yorkers have found the purr-fect solution for the city’s rat problem — welcoming colonies of stray cats who prey on the vermin.

A group of volunteers trained by the NYC Feral Cat Initiative traps feral cats that have become a nuisance or been threatened by construction, then spays or neuters and vaccinates them. The goal is to return them to their home territory — many in areas rife with rats.

About 6,000 volunteers have completed workshops where they’ve learned proper ways to trap cats. The program is run through the privately funded Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, a coalition of more than 150 animal rescue groups and shelters.

Feline rat patrols keep watch over city delis and bodegas, car dealerships and the grounds of a Greenwich Village church. Four cats roam the loading dock at the Javits Center, where food deliveries and garbage have drawn rodents for years.

“We used to hire exterminators, but nature has a better solution,” said Rebecca Marshall, the sustainability manager at the 1.8 million-square-foot convention center. “And cats don’t cost anything.”

The Javits Center’s quartet of cats — Sylvester, Alfreda, Mama Cat and Ginger — were lured to its 56 loading docks about two years ago with pet food brought by animal-loving employees.

The cats are predators, but don’t necessarily kill rats. Instead, experts say, the feline scent and droppings repel the rodents.

“A mother rat will never give birth near a predator because the cats would eat the babies,” said Jane Hoffman, president of the mayor’s alliance.