Rodents beware: New York City hires first 'rat tsar'

Mayor Eric Adams appoints Kathleen Corradi to head war on rats in America's most populous city

A rat jumps into a puddle in the snow in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Reuters

New York City's unending war on rats has a new commanding general.

Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday announced that Kathleen Corradi, an education department employee, has been appointed New York’s first ever “rat tsar” — part of Mr Adams’s efforts to combat a growing rodent population in the country’s most populous city.

“You’ll be seeing a lot of me — and a lot less rats,” Ms Corradi, whose official title is “citywide director of rodent mitigation”, said at a news conference. “There’s a new sheriff in town.”

Mr Adams, who has often expressed a deep hatred for rats, posted the job last year, seeking someone “somewhat bloodthirsty” and offering an annual salary between $120,000 and $170,000.

Ms Corradi, a former teacher, is not new to the fight against rats.

She previously oversaw rat mitigation efforts in the city’s public schools.

Rat sightings have jumped in recent years, according to city data. Some officials have said the proliferation of pavement dining — a concession to the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down the city’s restaurants — contributed to the problem.

The size of the city’s rat population is unknown but a 2014 study put the figure at about two million — or one for every four residents.

Mr Adams has enacted other measures aimed at what he called New York’s “No 1 enemy”.

In recent months, his administration has limited the number of hours that trash bags can sit on pavements awaiting pickup and launched a kerbside composting programme intended to reduce food waste.

But the brown rat, which likely arrived in New York sometime during the Revolutionary War era, has proven a crafty adversary, thriving despite numerous attempts to eradicate it from the city’s warrens of subway tunnels and alleyways.

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  A rat leaves its burrow at a park in New York City. AP

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  Pedestrians pass rubbish bags on a street in Manhattan in 2021. AFP

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  Rubbish bags piled high on a street in Manhattan in 2021. AFP

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  Runners pass a dead rat as they cross the Pulaski bridge during the 2021 New York City Marathon in Brooklyn. AFP

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  A rat crosses a Times Square subway platform in New York. AP

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  More rubbish bags in Manhattan last year. AFP

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  Rubbish bins are removed from public places as a safety precaution on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack, on September 10, 2021. AFP