Thursday 20 April 2023

New York City Hires First Rat Czar

NYC Mayor reveals the city's new $155k-a-year rat-catcher who's hated the vermin since she was TEN years old... just a month after the mayor was slapped with a $300 fine for a rodent infestation at his own Brooklyn home

  • Kathleen Corradi, 34, was appointed to be New York City's first 'rat czar' 
  • She will lead a team of rodent experts to curtail New York's critical rat problem
  • Last year Adams was ordered to pay $300 for a rat infestation in his own home 

New York City has hired a rat-catcher for $155,000-a-year, and she's had a passion for eliminating vermin since she was just ten-years-old.

The appointment of 34-year-old former elementary school teacher Kathleen Corradi was announced by Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday, and comes just months after he was ordered to pay $300 for a rat infestation in his own Brooklyn home.

Corradi has become the first-ever Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation - a position previously dubbed by Adams as 'rat czar' - and will lead a team of rodent experts to deal with city's critical rat problem. Sightings doubled in the last year, according to city data.

Corradi said the city would start by reducing food waste on the streets, and Adams said a 'rat mitigation zone' in Harlem would see $3.5million invested into ridding the neighborhood of rodents.

New York City has hired rat-catcher Kathleen Corradi (pictured right) for $155,000-a-year

New York City has hired rat-catcher Kathleen Corradi (pictured right) for $155,000-a-year

Adams said a 'rat mitigation zone' in Harlem would see $3.5million invested into ridding the neighborhood of rodents

Adams said a 'rat mitigation zone' in Harlem would see $3.5million invested into ridding the neighborhood of rodents

In December Adams was served a summons for a rat infestation at the Brooklyn in which he lives with his son

In December Adams was served a summons for a rat infestation at the Brooklyn in which he lives with his son

'This is almost a job that's made for her,' Adams said of Corradi during a press conference on Wednesday.

Although she was picked after a national search, she has worked at the Education Department and previously led its rodent reduction efforts, The New York Times reported. 

'Due to those efforts nearly 70 percent of schools with persistent rodent issues reached their compliance goals,' said Corradi. 

'As New York City's first Director of Rodent Mitigation, I will bring a science and systems based approaching to reducing New York City's rat population.'

'You'll be seeing a lot of me and lot less rats,' she added.

Her mother told The Times her hatred of rats is long-lasting. She recounted how nearly 25 years ago, a ten-year-old Corradi spotted a dead rat by some train tracks on Long Island.

In shock she distributed a petition between neighbors and delivered it to local officials demanding that something be done. 

'The Long Island Rail Road listened,' said her mother. 'They came and did rat mitigation.'

At Wednesday's conference the city laid out on a table a variety of materials it was proposing to use in order to attack the rat population, including traps, sealant and poisons. 

Adams declared a war on rats last December when he began his search for somebody to occupy the new position. 'There's nothing I hate more than rats,' he said while advertising what is now Corradi's job.

At Wednesday's conference the city laid out a variety of materials it was proposing to use in order to attack the rat population, including traps, sealant and poisons

At Wednesday's conference the city laid out a variety of materials it was proposing to use in order to attack the rat population, including traps, sealant and poisons

The mayor's Brooklyn neighborhood is known to have rat issues and has been treating the issue through the help of the Department of Health

The mayor's Brooklyn neighborhood is known to have rat issues and has been treating the issue through the help of the Department of Health

The position was listed as being for anyone with a background in urban planning, project management, or government work. It explained the job would require doing 'the impossible' to reduce the number of rats in the city.

It also suggested the right candidate would have a 'swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor and general aura of badassery.' A knowledge of PowerPoint was also required.

The job also required 'stamina and stagecraft' and the listing suggested 'the ideal candidate is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty.'

'Despite their successful public engagement strategy and cheeky social media presence, rats are not our friends. Rodents spread disease, damage homes and wiring and even attempt to control the movements of kitchen staffers in an effort to take over human jobs,' the posting said.

Adams's rat city-wide rat issue has affected his own home too. In December, he was served a summons for a rat infestation at the Brooklyn home in which he lives with his son. 

His record showed an unpaid summons penalty for $330 that he received in May - after it was found that his Bedford Stuyvesant home is flooded with the rodents.

Adams contested the ticket in a hearing before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings in February, but an officer denied the challenge and the mayor was ordered to pay $300.

Adams' rat issue persists outside of his home and on the streets of New York City.

Orkin's top 15 rattiest cities in America are all DemoRAT owned and operated.

PETA says'Rats are sensitive and intelligent creatures': and a rat cull is unfair


Speaking to DailyMail.com Sunday, rep Ashley Byrne offered insight on the activism group's reaction to Adam's recent move to hire a $155,000-a-year 'rat czar' to carry out the cull.

PETA rep Ashley Byrne offered insight on the activism group's reaction to Adam's recent move to hire a $155,000-a-year 'rat czar' to carry out the cull.

'It's worrying that tax payer dollars are being used for a public official to stand at a podium to boast about killing these small sensitive animals,' the animal activist said of Adams' campaign

'It's worrying that tax payer dollars are being used for killing these small sensitive animals,' the PETA activist said. 'It's reprehensible.

'She said  'disgusting human behavior' is to blame. 

'As long as the garbage is there and being littered across the city, rats will be there.'

She added that it's easy for a politician - after failing to quell the city's crime rate, to pass blame on to the rats.

'We need to get New Yorkers to stop leaving trash on their city's streets and treating it like a garbage dump.' 

Mayor Adams declared a war on rats last December when he began his search for somebody to occupy the new Rat Czar position. 'There's nothing I hate more than rats.'

New York City boasts a rat population of approximately 2 million rats.

These days the rodents have grown increasingly more brazen.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams may have just found another case for his new 'rat czar' as a sleeping subway rider saw one of the rodents crawl on top of him in a disturbing video

A sleeping subway rider saw one of the rodents crawl on top of him

The rat suddenly crawls up the man's leg and onto his shoulders behind his head

The rat crawled up the man's leg and onto his shoulders behind his head



A city councilmember told CBS News the city has recorded a 71 percent increase in rat sightings since 2020.  

Rats are not our friends. Rodents spread disease, damage homes and wiring, etc.

Adams is seeking to pay a rat hunter more than $120,000 to help rid of the rodents in the city

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is willing to pay big money for someone who can get rid of the city's rats

A city councilmember told CBS News the city has recorded a 71 percent increase in rat sightings since 2020

A city councilmember told CBS News the city has recorded a 71 percent increase in rat sightings since 2020

The first rodent to take social media by storm for its larger than life appetite was Pizza Rat. In September 2015, New Yorkers were amazed when footage emerged of it carrying an entire large slice of pizza down the steps of a subway station
Two rats were seen scrapping over a bagel. It seemed both simply wanted to fit in with the commuter crowd, by enjoying a classic New York breakfast while waiting for the morning subway

Social media stars Pizza Rat (left) and Bagel Rat (right)

Donut Rat sprung up on social media in 2015 after footage captured the rodent at East Broadway station on October 30 carrying the donut to a hidden spot
In 2019, Coffee Rat showed up, when the caffeinated creature was filmed dragging an empty cup of coffee across a subway platform in Brooklyn

Donut Rat (left) and Coffee Rat (right)


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