NEW YORK — Do you hate rats? Are you a New Yorker with excellent communication skills and “a general aura of evil”? Then you might have what New York City needs to apply for the job as the city’s new rat czar.
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration published a job advertisement this week looking for someone to lead the city’s long-running battle against the rats. The official title of the work is “Rodent Mitigation Director‘, although he was soon dubbed the Rat Czar. The salary range is $120,000 to $170,000.
“The ideal candidate is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty, determined to look at all solutions from various angles, including operational efficiency improvement, data collection, technological innovation, waste management and wholesale slaughter.
The publication is extravagant, but the work is daunting.
New York City leaders have tried to control the rodent population for generations, with mixed results. Recently sightings of rats have increased in parks, on sidewalks and other places in the city.
City Rats survived a multimillion-dollar effort by former Mayor Bill de Blasio that focused on more trash pickup and better home inspections in specific neighborhoods. The city has also launched a program to use dry ice to suffocate rats in their hiding places.
Adams, when he was Brooklyn Borough President, once demonstrated a trap that used a bucket filled with a toxic soup to drown rats attracted to the smell of the food.
Now, the Adams administration is looking for a high-level bureaucrat to become the public face of the city’s eradication and education efforts.
“Cunning, voracious and prolific, the rats of New York City are legendary for their survival skills, but they don’t run this city, we do,” the publication said.
Applicants are expected to have a keen sense of humor and “lead from the front, using practical rodent extermination techniques with authority and efficiency”.
