They scurry through the New York subway, through sewers or in the basements of residential buildings: millions of rats are considered a nuisance by most people in the US east coast metropolis. Now New York has its first rat commissioner in the fight against the animals. Mayor Eric Adams introduced “rat tsarina” Kathleen Corradi Wednesday as the first citywide director of rodent control.
“It was clear we needed someone focused solely on leading our rat reduction efforts across all five boroughs,” Adams said of the ongoing problem. For many non-New Yorkers in particular, rats have become a symbol of pollution and the poor state of the city over the past few years and decades. Among others, the New York “pizza rat” became famous, which in a video pulls a far too large piece of the well-known cheese pizza down the steps of a subway station.
But Corradi also sees a “symptom of systemic problems, including hygiene, health, housing and economic justice”. It will take a scientific and systematic approach to rat control across all departments of the city government. Authorities have identified the Harlem neighborhood in Manhattan as the first focal point. $3.5 million will go toward reducing the rat population there.
