So sizeable is New York’s rat population that the city has launched a “Rat Academy” to educate people on how to make their homes and places of work less inviting to hungry vermin. Now there’s another type of rapidly breeding rodent giving city officials nightmares.
New York’s animal shelters are so overrun with unwanted pet guinea pigs that the council is considering a ban on the sale of the animals. Six hundred guinea pigs have been surrendered to city-funded shelters so far this year, compared with the 263 who were handed over for rehoming in the first eight months of 2020. Last week, nine guinea pigs were found abandoned in Hudson River Park on the west side of Manhattan.
“It’s extremely serious,” says Katy Hansen,