"New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been locked in a multiyear war with millions of his constituents.
"Everyone that knows me knows one thing: I hate rats," he said in an October 2022 press conference.
Eradicating rats has been a consistent talking point for Adams. Just this week he appointed his new right hand in the battle against rodents, Kathleen Corradi. Corradi has worked in the city's public school system for years. But experts say that Corradi's new job to "fight the real enemy — New York City's relentless rat population" will be a tall order. That's partly because research on urban rats is slim, and partly because that slim research points to a penchant for being elusive.
While rats have been a perennial problem in New York City, complaints have increased over the past two years. When restaurants shuttered their doors in the early pandemic, less food waste was available to rats. Many rats were forced to change their behavior or migrate to new areas, which led to fewer rat-related complaints."
Anil Oza, Rebecca Ramirez, Liz Metzger, and Regina G. Barber report for NPR April 14, 2023.
