Rats.

For three centuries, New York has waged a war against rats. For three centuries, New York has lost. And it’s not for a lack of trying. New York has turned to rodent birth control, dry ice and even a ban on eating in the subway.

And yet, the numbers of rodent complaints to the city’s 311 hotline have soared by 38 percent over the last five years — to 17,353 last year, up from 12,617 in 2014 — according to an analysis of city data by OpenTheBooks.com, a nonprofit watchdog group, and The Times.

A new trap

Yesterday, Brooklyn’s borough president, Eric Adams, unveiled a pilot program aimed at ending rodent infestation.

City officials have called the new trap a high-tech solution. It involves a bucket and vinegar and drowning. The vinegar is supposed to prevent the rats from rotting too fast, and to keep the bucket of dead rodents from stinking too much, according to its maker, Rap Trap Inc.