On Wednesday, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced that he has hired Kathleen Corradi as the city’s director of rodent mitigation.
During a press release, Adams’ office said that Corradi will coordinate with city agencies such as the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene, Parks and Recreation, and Sanitation to find “innovative ways to cut off rats’ food sources” and use “new technologies to detect and exterminate rat populations.”
Corradi is expected to receive a salary of $155,000 a year as a “rat czar.”
Additionally, the city announced the establishment of a “Harlem Rat Exclusion Zone” that encompasses a large portion of Manhattan’s northern half. In this area, $3.5 million will be spent to enhance and expand inspections, deploy tools like bait and traps, and reinforce some public housing’s flooring to prevent rat burrowing.
“Rat mitigation is more than a quality-of-life issue for New Yorkers” Corradi said in the announcement. “Rats are a symptom of systemic issues, including sanitation, health, housing, and economic justice. As the first director of rodent mitigation, I’m excited to bring a science- and systems-based approach to fight rats. New York may be famous for the Pizza Rat, but rats, and the conditions that help them thrive will no longer be tolerated – no more dirty curbs, unmanaged spaces, or brazen burrowing.”
Adams said, “The rats are going to hate Kathy, but we’re excited to have her leading this important effort.”
In order to find the right candidate, the city had specific requirements in mind. They were searching for someone who was “highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty” and had “stamina and stagecraft.” In addition to a “swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery.”
According to the NYC Department of Health’s website, rats are a serious public health threat since they can contaminate food and spread diseases like leptospirosis.
While the precise number of rats in NYC is unknown, research conducted in 2014 under the direction of statistician Jonathan Auerbach and based on reports of rat sightings to the NYC hotline concluded that there were only 2 million or so rats in the city.
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