Anti-rat activist hired to control New York City’s pest population

Kathleen Corradi is the city’s first director of rodent mitigation, tasked with rooting out the city’s infestation of vermin

Every New York City mayor has waged war – and mostly lost – against one of humanity’s most cunning and enduring foe: rattus norvegicus. But has the city’s vilest enemy, better known as the common brown rat, finally met its match?

Mayor Eric Adams introduced a former elementary school teacher and anti-rat activist as his new “rat czar” on Wednesday. Officially, Kathleen Corradi, the mayor’s new hire, will be known as the director of rodent mitigation.