New York City posted a job for a new rat czar to help with the city’s infamous rat problem.
According to a job posting on the mayor’s website, the office of the Deputy Mayor for Operations is looking for an executive to handle the city’s rat control operation. But the city appears to be looking for a particular character; the job listing is looking for applicants with a “virulent vehemence for vermin” and the “killer instinct” to help curtail the millions of rats that populate America’s largest metropolis.
“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 job listing states. “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. Cunning, voracious, and prolific, New York City’s rats are legendary for their survival skills, but they don’t run this city — we do.”
“The ideal candidate is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty, determined to look at all solutions from various angles, including improving operational efficiency, data collection, technology innovation, trash management, and wholesale slaughter,” the listing continues.
It adds that the ideal candidate must be “able to burrow into the depths of city government” to cooperate with the various city agencies and health officials. “As leader of the ‘Rat Pack,’ you will work with your colleagues from across city government, traveling throughout the five burrows, educating, evaluating, and eradicating in equal measure,” the city said.
In order to qualify for the position, an applicant must be a resident of New York City, have a Bachelor’s degree and 5-8 years of relevant experience, as well as a “swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery.”
The rat czar will have to work with subject matter experts to devise the city’s rat mitigation strategy, and work with other agencies to control and track the rat population. Of course, the czar will be expected to catch and kill the rodents as well.
“Rats will hate this job posting,” the city concludes. “But 8.8 million New Yorkers and your city government stand ready to work with you to reduce the rat population, increase cleanliness, and prevent pestilence.”
There’s NOTHING I hate more than rats.
If you have the drive, determination, and killer instinct needed to fight New York City’s relentless rat population — then your dream job awaits.
Read more: https://t.co/ybNxcJeJP7
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) December 1, 2022
Last month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams took an initial step in fighting the rat infestation, by imposing restrictions on how long residents can leave their garbage out on the street. Beginning on April 1, 2023, residents will be fined for putting their trash on the curb before 8 p.m., NPR reported.
Adams also touted his own rat mitigation reputation as Brooklyn borough president. “Everyone that knows me — they know one thing. I hate rats,” Adams said at the time. “When we started killing them in Borough Hall, some of the same folks were criticizing us and called me a murderer because I was killing rats. Well, you know what? We’re going to kill rats.”
Earlier this month, Adams signed four pieces of city legislation to institute “rat mitigation zones” throughout the city, requiring the city health department to create zones by April 1, requiring construction sites to be professionally exterminated for rats, and requiring buildings that receive multiple rodent-related code violations to use city-approved rat traps for two years.