Residents say rats are taking over Sheepshead Bay street

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Rats are taking over 12th Street in Sheepshead Bay 24/7, according to people in the area. "During the broad day, like it is right now, I see like the rats run back and forth between the scaffolding here," said Larry Novofastovsky, who lives in the neighborhood. Many people in the community say the rats wait until the trash is out - and that's when they start biting through the garbage and making a mess. "I live on the first floor and I'm afraid the rats can get in our apartment," Ibrahim Faisan, who lives in the building. Rat feces has also been seen alongside the building's entrance. News 12 reached out to the building owners, A&E real estate. They released the following statement: "We've been responsive to residents by aggressively treating the exterior of the building and deploying exterminators to address any issues. Moving forward, we are looking at several solutions to containerize trash to further reduce any rodent activity." News 12 also reached out to the Department of Health and they released a statement saying:

The NYC Health Department aims to be as responsive as possible to New Yorkers. We have been to this property many times to inspect for rats and conditions that could attract rats. We have also applied bait at this location. We were there last month and will continue working on this location until the problems are fixed. We also offer a variety of resources to community members like attending a Rat Academy training to help drive rats out of their communities. You can see our activities on the Rat Information Portal.

Tenants say walking with caution is their only solution. "