Spend A Night With The Rat Hunting Dogs Of NYC

If you call the city about a rat problem, they'll give you tips on keeping them out and tell you how to find a pest control company to poison the rodents.

But there are others out there who hunt New York's vermin, and they don't do it for pay - they do it because it's in their nature (and because their owners want to let working terriers "do what they do best").

The rat hunters of New York are known as the Ryders Alley Trencher Fed Society (R.A.T.S.). They train dogs to hunt rats and will take the canines anywhere requested to, as they say, eRATicate the pests, provided the location is safe for the dogs, away from traffic, and relatively pedestrian-free.

R.A.T.S. has been around since 1995. The name combines a reference to the notoriously rat-infested Ryder Alley in Manhattan with "trencher fed," a term that refers to hunting hounds that live with their owners and go out on group hunts. The most common dog breeds used by the group are border terriers, Norfolk terriers, fox terriers and dachshunds, all historical rat catchers.

When weather allows, the rat hunters go out as often as once a week. We've compiled some photos here from one July expedition with information from Mitch Moxley of Roads and Kingdoms, who spent a night with R.A.T.S. last year.