New York City is hiring a ‘rat czar’ (Picture: Rex)
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared war on rats. Now he’s looking for a someone to lead the charge against the city’s iconic vermin.
New York City is hiring a ‘Director of Rodent Mitigation’ to take the fight to the city’s ‘relentless’ rat population. The position, which is already being called the ‘rat czar,’ will report to the Deputy Mayor of Operations Meera Joshi.
The requirements are fairly straightforward: a college degree, efficiency in Microsoft Office, and a residency in New York City. Additionally, the job posting asks for a person who has a ‘swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery.’
It pays well too – the job is offering a salary between $120,000 – $170,000 a year.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed a package of laws aimed at limiting the amount of time trash sits on the street and reducing the rat population’s food sources (Picture: AFP)
‘Despite their successful public engagement strategy and cheeky social media presence, rats are not our friends – they are enemies that must be vanquished by the combined forces of our city government,’ the posting reads. ‘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.’
‘There’s NOTHING I hate more than rats,’ Mayor Eric Adams said on Twitter. ‘If you have the drive, determination, and killer instinct needed to fight New York City’s relentless rat population — then your dream job awaits.’
This is not Adams’ first attempt to quell New York’s most persistent pest.
In 2019 while he was Brooklyn Borough President, Adams introduced a novel rat trap that involved drowning the rodents in a bucket of alcohol solution.
After a press conference, the mayor showed the press how well the traps worked with a bucket full of an active trap’s victims.
Earlier in November, Adams announced he was making rat mitigation a priority after signing a package of bills designed to reduce trash in the city.
‘Today we’re making it clear that rats don’t run our city. New Yorkers do,’ Adams stated.
The laws pushed back city trash pickup times, restricted the amount of time bags can be kept on the curb, and forced landlords to invest in new heavy-duty garbage bins.
Concerned about property damage, quality of life, and economic recovery, Adams said he wanted to end a problem every New York City mayor has had to deal with.
‘We’re going to take a serious approach to ending this rat tale. For far too long, the population of rodents have been able to roam around this city with a level of impunity, and we’re saying no to that’
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected]. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
‘There’s NOTHING I hate more than rats,’ the mayor said.
