Washington (CNN) Search for New York City The First “Rat Jar” has come to an end.
Kathleen Corradi has been hired as the city’s director of rodent control, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.
Corradi said Adams’ office will coordinate city agencies such as health and mental health, parks and recreation and sanitation to find “innovative ways to cut off rodent food sources” and “use new technologies to detect and eradicate rodent populations.” said in a press release on Wednesday.
The city also announced the creation of a “Harlem Rat Exclusion Zone” covering much of Manhattan’s North Side, where $3.5 million will be spent to improve and increase inspections, use equipment such as bait and traps, and harden floors in some public areas. Houses to prevent rat burrowing.
“Rat abatement is more than a quality-of-life issue for New Yorkers,” Corradi, who previously served as director of Queens Space Planning for the city’s Department of Education, said in the announcement. “Rats are a symptom of systemic issues including sanitation, hygiene, housing and economic justice. As the first Director of Rodent Abatement, I am excited to bring a science and systems-based approach to fighting rats. New York may be famous for the pizza rat, but rats and the conditions that help them thrive are no longer tolerated — Dirt barriers, unmanaged lots or brazen drilling will no longer be permitted.”
As Adams put it: “The rats are going to hate Cathy, but we’re excited to have her lead this important effort.”
The city had unique criteria in mind during the candidate search, looking for someone “highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty,” with both “commitment and stagecraft.” Not to mention a “fierce attitude, sly humor and a nasty public aura”.
Rodents pose a serious public health challenge to the city: They can contaminate food and spread diseases like leptospirosis, NYC reports. Department of Health website.
It’s unclear how many rats call New York City home. An oft-repeated urban legend tells us that there are more rats than people (or more than 8 million) in the city. But still A 2014 study Led by statistician Jonathan Auerbach, the NYC Hotline estimates that there are only about 2 million rats in the city based on rat sightings reported to it.
