known for his tireless battle against urban rats, Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, announced on April 12th that Kathleen Corradi will be the city’s first director of rodent mitigation. Kathleen is a teacher and specializes in sustainability.

“The Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation is a high-visibility, high-impact leadership role with one of the most important tasks in city government – keeping the city’s rats in check and on notice. Despite their successful public engagement strategy and cheeky social media presence, rats are not our friends – they are enemies that must be vanquished,” stated the job description posted online.

History

The war was declared by the mayor because of the large rodent population on city streets – estimates by local media outlets point to close to two million of them. Rats transmit several diseases including leptospirosis, an infection caused by bacteria that may be present in these animals’ urine. Additionally, they can damage the structure of houses and show aggression, by attacking humans as well as other animals.

However, there are experts who criticize Adams for wanting to completely exterminate the rodent population, as this could destabilize the ecosystem (the group of different species living in the same habitat) in New York. With less rats, for example, the insect population including cockroaches (which are hunted by rodents) could increase significantly, causing new problems for New Yorkers.

Sources: BBC, Clarksqn, NYC Gov, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Veja magazine.

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