Updated

New York City is gearing up for its latest war on rats.

Starting next month, an army of inspectors will descend on the city's most rat-infested neighborhoods, targeting the parks, sewers and dumping areas where rats congregate and breed.

It's part of the city's latest effort to attack a rat population that some experts estimate could be double that of the Big Apple's 8.4 million human residents.

Financed with $611,000 in the budget, inspectors will work with neighborhood associations, community boards, elected officials and building owners to plug up rat holes and put poison in rodent tunnels.

Professional exterminator Joel Grassi says the goal is to target the rats' food supply. But, he says, "As long as there are human beings in New York City, there will be rats."