A fresh layer of snow blanketed New York City on the morning of February 16, and for most residents it was a picturesque winter scene. For Ashley Bez, a comedian and longtime New Yorker, it turned into something far more unsettling. Out on an early morning walk with her dog, she began to notice something strange covering the thin white surface beneath her feet. What looked at first like random scuff marks quickly revealed itself to be an intricate network of tiny footprints running in every direction, all belonging to rats.
Ashley described the moment as genuinely shocking, even after nearly a quarter century of city living. “In 24 years of living in the city, I have never seen anything like it and I was in complete shock,” she said. The prints didn’t just travel in a single line here and there but formed what she described as a full-on rat highway, with trails weaving and crossing in ways that suggested a surprisingly organized and active nocturnal population. The snow had essentially acted as a canvas, exposing the invisible city that comes to life after dark.
What made the experience even stranger for Ashley was the unexpected emotional reaction it triggered in her. “How can something I normally find disgusting be so cute?” she admitted. “Rats are obviously full of surprises. As soon as I saw the tracks, I knew right away what they were because I encounter rats every time I walk at night.” Rather than turning and walking away, she pulled out her phone and started filming, leaning into her curiosity with the sensibility of someone who has spent a career finding humor in the everyday chaos of city life.
She posted the footage to her TikTok account, where she has around 39,000 followers, and the video quickly took on a life of its own. Within a short period, it accumulated 911,000 views and over 53,000 likes. Ashley herself seemed amused by what the whole situation said about modern life. “I felt like a scientist collecting data, only it was for TikTok,” she joked. “I don’t know if that’s sad, but it’s true. These are the times we live in.”
The comment section became a battleground of very different opinions. Some viewers were genuinely charmed by the sight of all those little paw prints mapped out across the snow. “Some thought the tracks were cute, while others were horrified,” Ashley noted, summarizing the split reaction her video provoked. On the more outraged end of the spectrum, one user wrote: “People have normalized living with rats. You live in a shitty city, literally.” Another added: “Where do you live, so I know never to be there at night.” But plenty of viewers took a warmer view, with one commenter writing that the tracks were simply adorable, and another offering: “Rats and pigeons run the city and I say that with love, I love them all.”
New York City’s rat problem is not a new phenomenon and is widely considered one of the most persistent urban challenges in the United States. The city is estimated to have a rat population in the millions, though exact numbers are notoriously difficult to pin down. Brown rats, also known as Norway rats, are by far the most common species found throughout the five boroughs, thriving in the subway system, sewers, alleyways, and beneath trash bags piled on sidewalks. The city spends tens of millions of dollars each year on rodent control efforts, and in recent years officials have experimented with new approaches including dry ice extermination and redesigned trash containerization programs aimed at cutting off the primary food sources that allow rat colonies to grow so large.
The issue gained renewed public attention in 2023 when New York City appointed its first-ever “rat czar,” Kathleen Corradi, whose official role is coordinating a citywide strategy to reduce the rodent population. Corradi’s office has focused heavily on changing the hours when trash can be put out on sidewalks, a shift that has shown some early signs of reducing rat sightings in certain neighborhoods. Despite these efforts, rats remain deeply woven into the fabric of New York City life, celebrated in memes, documented endlessly on social media, and occasionally even treated with a strange affection by residents who have simply grown accustomed to sharing their city with them.
For Ashley Bez, the morning walk that started as a routine outing with her dog ended up becoming a minor viral moment that captured something very real about life in New York. The snow melted, the tracks disappeared, and the rats went back underground, but the video stuck around as a reminder that the city above ground is only part of the story. What do you think about New York’s rat situation and how residents are learning to live with it? Share your thoughts in the comments.
