In July 2025, video of rats running through a planting bed on West Carver Street near New York Avenue — in daylight, in the middle of downtown Huntington's restaurant row — went around Long Island in a day. The infestation had been building for more than a month. Suffolk County traced it to a vacant commercial building whose owner was cited after rat burrows were found on the property, and the Health Department cited roughly 20 downtown businesses for waste violations. The Town of Huntington responded with four measures: monitoring how garbage is set out, requiring businesses to use sealed, pest-resistant bins, referring violators to the county, and sending animal control for dead rats. (News 12 · Greater Long Island)
Rest Easy provides commercial pest control for restaurants, retail, offices and commercial landlords across Suffolk County and Nassau County, and Huntington is the case study we point to when a business owner asks why they need a program when they "don't have a problem." Here's why.
The rats weren't the restaurants' fault. The citations were theirs anyway.
The source was a vacant building. But rats don't stay at the source — they forage up to 100 feet or more, and a downtown block is one connected food system: dumpsters, alley recycling, grease bins, loose bags set out early. When the county came through, it cited the businesses whose trash was accessible, not just the property with the burrows. Twenty citations on one strip. For a restaurant, a waste violation is a public record and a mark on the next inspection.
What the Town now requires
Sealed, pest-resistant bins for business waste, proper storage until pickup, and referral to the Suffolk County Department of Health for violators. If you operate in Huntington village that's the rule; if you operate anywhere else on Long Island, it's the direction every downtown is heading, because it works.
What a commercial pest program covers that a dumpster lid doesn't
- Inspection of the whole premises and the building line — back of house, basement, dumpster pad, alley side, the gaps where utility lines enter the wall — with a written service report every visit.
- Tamper-resistant exterior bait stations along the building line and the alley, documented on a station map and serviced on every visit.
- Interior trapping where rodents have gotten inside.
- Rodent proofing: door sweeps, sealed penetrations, screened vents, repaired gaps at grade.
- Sanitation and harborage recommendations in writing — the loose recyclables, the grease bin that doesn't close, the planting bed against the foundation — so the conditions that drew the citation get fixed.
- A service log that shows an inspector or a landlord the program is real.
For commercial landlords
The Huntington source was a vacant property, and its owner was the first one cited. A vacant or between-tenants building with no pest program is the most common way a commercial landlord ends up as the named cause of a block-wide problem. Exterior bait stations and regular inspection on an empty building are what keep a commercial landlord from becoming the named cause of a county citation — and the target of a street full of tenants pointing at you.
For restaurants, retail and property owners on Long Island
If you operate in Huntington, Northport, Babylon Village, Patchogue, Port Jefferson, Great Neck, Garden City, Rockville Centre, Long Beach or any Long Island downtown and you don't have a documented rodent program, a phone quote is free. Call 888-927-9842 or request a commercial quote online.
Frequently asked questions
- What caused the Huntington village rat infestation in 2025?
- Suffolk County traced it to a vacant commercial building where rat burrows were found; the owner was cited. Accessible trash from surrounding businesses sustained the colony, and about 20 businesses were cited for waste violations.
- Can a business be cited for rats that come from another property?
- Yes. Health departments cite the conditions they find — accessible garbage, open recycling, grease bins that don't close — regardless of where the burrows are.
- What does Huntington require businesses to do about trash now?
- Use sealed, pest-resistant bins, store waste properly until pickup, and face referral to the Suffolk County Department of Health for violations.
- What should a commercial rodent program include?
- Regular inspection of the premises and building line, tamper-resistant exterior bait stations on a documented map, interior trapping where needed, rodent proofing, written sanitation recommendations, and a service log.
- Are vacant buildings a rat risk?
- They're the most common source of a block-wide infestation. No one is managing the exterior, burrows go unnoticed, and the building becomes the colony's home base while the neighbors supply the food.