They would be the Big Apple’s cat crusaders.
Mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa is pitching a plan to solve New York City’s rat problem — unleashing a strike team of feral cats to hunt down the rodents at public parks and other “hot spots.”
Speaking one day after The Post exposed rat infestation at the Tarr-Coyne Tots Playground on West 67th Street, the Guardian Angels founder and GOP candidate said the feline fix is the obvious answer to the rodent problem plaguing parts of the city.
“This is Mother Nature’s way of preventing rats, rodents and others to plague any area of the city,” Sliwa said Sunday at the Central Park playground. “What you really have to do is if you feed them, if you water them, if you provide them a basic accommodation.
“It’s generally a little plastic Tupperware box that they can go in and out of, especially when there’s inclement weather,” he said. “The rats, the mice will smell them. They will not come in the areas, and this costs nothing to the city of New York.
“It would be like they’re on patrol. Consider them like Batman and Robin — Gotham caped crusaders at night, especially. This is when the rats and the mice generally come out.”
Sliwa also said he’s adding his name to the independent “Protect Animals” line in his City Hall bid, calling it “an independent line that calls for no kill shelters” — and slammed rival Mayor Eric Adams, saying he’s been unable to solve the rat problem despite appointing a “Rat Czar” in 2023.
“Let me tell you, as a veteran of dealing with rats, you will never win the war,” he said. “You can only have detente and just keep them at bay.”
Saturday’s report by The Post found parents griping about rats roaming near their toddlers at the playground, even jumping on strollers and snatching snacks from kids.
So far this year, there have been 6,614 NYC 311 rat complaints in the five boroughs, only slightly below the 2024 number for the same time span last year, city statistics show.
Adams has vowed in the past to fix the problem, and hired a $170,000-a-year “Rat Czar” in 2023.
Last year, the mayor also announced a $877,000 rat “death squad” program that called for homeowners to use rodent-proof garbage cans and plans to zap the rats with carbon monoxide.
Sliwa maintains the city hasn’t done enough — and wants cats to do the dirty work.
He said feral cats are perfect for the job because they are loners who avoid contact with people, are used to living outdoors and mostly prowl at night, when rats are most active.
New Yorkers were intrigued by the idea Sunday — but not without some concerns.
“What’s it going to look like, the cat colonies? I’s going to have a cat problem later on? I’m actually not sure,” said Wei, a 38-year-old mother of two at the playground. “I’ve been in New York for 10 years. And the rats just keep growing and growing. I don’t know if some cat colony is going to control it.”
Martin Petrella, 51, who was at Taft-Coyne with his young daughter, called the idea “interesting.”
“I have a cat, so I do love cats. You know, I think they’re amazing hunters. I think it’s an interesting idea,” he said. “I think the challenge with that, it’s other flora and fauna… there are special birds in Central Park, but that would be an issue.”
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