Meet Kathleen Corradi, New York City’s first ‘Rat Jar’

New York appointed its first rat “czar” on Wednesday, tasked with cracking down on one of the more unpleasant aspects of life in the Big Apple.

Kathleen Corradi’s appointment comes four months after the city posted a tongue-in-cheek advertisement looking for “somewhat bloodthirsty” candidates for the role.

Rats are a regular sight in America’s largest metropolis, often running between subway tracks and sniffing garbage bags on sidewalks.

Legend has it that there are as many rats as humans – about nine million – although that figure has been dismissed as a myth by a local statistician.

Even the English novelist Charles Dickens complained about rodents when he visited New York in 1842.

One of the critters was shot to Internet stardom in 2015 when it was filmed walking down the stairs of a subway station with a whole slice of pizza in its mouth.

In a statement, Corradi said, “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 crappy restrictions, unmanaged locations or brazen billing. “

According to the New York Times, the former teacher and expert in waste management will be paid $155,000 a year.

His official title is director of rodent mitigation, Mayor Eric Adams’ office said in a statement.

City officials have spent millions of dollars trying to reduce the rat population over the years, deploying everything from rodent birth control to vermin-proof garbage cans.

During a stomach-turning presentation in 2019, Adams, then-Chairman of the Brooklyn Borough, unveiled a machine that submerged rats in a pool of an alcohol-based liquid.

The government also runs a “Rat Academy” where local residents can learn rodent prevention methods.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)