New York City Seeks ‘Rat Czar’

NEW YORK (AP) — Hate rats? Are you a “bloodthirsty” New Yorker with excellent communication skills and a “general tough-guy aura”? It might just be what you need to become the new czar in the city’s fight against rats.

The city government, led by Mayor Eric Adams, posted a job posting this week looking for someone to lead the city’s long-running fight against rats. The official title of the position: “Director of Rodent Pest Control”, although he was soon named the Rat Czar. Salary ranges from $120,000 to $170,000 per year.

“The ideal candidate will be highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty, committed to looking at all solutions from various angles, such as operational efficiency improvement, data collection, technology innovation, waste management and total slaughter,” the job ad says.

Advertising is colorful, but the work is challenging.

New York City officials have tried to control the rodent population for generations, with mixed results. Sightings of rats in parks, sidewalks, and other city sites have increased recently.

City rats have outpaced former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s multimillion-dollar initiative, which focused more on litter pick-up and better home inspections in specific neighborhoods. The city also began a program of using dry ice to suffocate rats in their hiding places.

When he was mayor of Brooklyn, Adams once demonstrated a trap that used a bucket full of poisonous soup to drown rats attracted by the smell of food.

Now the Adams government is looking for a rat expert to become the public face of the city’s eradication and education efforts.

“Cunning, volatile and prolific, the rats of New York are renowned for their ability to survive, but they don’t run the city, we do,” the job posting says.

Applicants are expected to have a sense of humor and “have a command of using practical techniques to exterminate rodents authoritatively and effectively.”