New York City hiring top rat killer

cuttothechase

This honestly appears to be a very difficult problem to solve. It seems that to be truly be effective in rat reduction at a city scale the fix may need to come from elsewhere and may have very little to do with directly working on exterminating the rats. Fixes may be needed starting from urban planning through waste/sewage handling methods at a street level all the way up to the city. Also not sure if there would be enough leverage and incentives for any candidate who is going to be hired for this job at their advertised $120K to be able to achieve that kind of a change! Seems like another easy win for the rats at the tax payers expense!

slickdork

Qualification: - Swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery

I dont want to be the director of rat extermination, but i wouldn't mind working for whoever writes copy on the nyc gov job postings.

mnutt

Living in NYC with rats, I'm always reminded of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, where Jack Shaftoe is in Paris in the late 17th century and meets St-George, the city's preeminent rat-catcher. St-George explains how no one is never going to exterminate _all_ of the rats, so he instead only kills the bad kind of rats and lets the "good" rats live, in a sort of multi-generational rat breeding program. St-George says that he has been doing this for many years, and his father before him, and his father before that. Jack asks, "how do you know the rats aren't breeding YOU?"

ComputerGuru

They should hire Joseph Carter, better known as the Mink Man!

I still can't believe he went from someone I stumbled across on YouTube in a low-quality shaky-cam video 10 years ago (or was it more?) to making NYT headlines (and he deserves it): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/science/mink-animals-pest...

His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/josephcartertheminkman

chimeracoder

The only reason this is a problem is because the city refuses to use containerized trash collection (such as dumpsters). Turns out, dumping trash bags on the street for 12 hours 3-6 times a week is basically a free buffet for rats.

The reason the city doesn't implement containerized trash collection is because that would mean giving up a few free parking spots every block.

It got worse during COVID-19 because the city temporarily suspended collection/extermination, which caused the rodent population to explode, and it's never recovered from that. But eliminating the regular meals for rats would be an easy, no-brainer way to fix it.

nemo44x

The qualifications for the role are very poor if you're looking for someone to be effective:

> Bachelor’s Degree required, preferably public policy, or related design fields, plus 5-8 years of full-time professional experience in a field related to this position

> Swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery

Wouldn't you value someone who actually knows how to control vermin populations at scale in an urban environment? Why would you value someone who has a "public policy" degree. What even is that?

And why does this person need to be a funny pirate? In essence, Jack Sparrow with a public policy degree appears to be the ideal candidate.

To me it sounds like they're more interested in giving off the perception of doing something about the problem while entertaining the public about it, rather than actually solving the problem effectively.

n8cpdx

“The rats are absolutely going to hate this announcement. But the rats don’t run this city. We do” has become a top tier audio meme. I think I hear this in my head about as often as I see “(x) Doubt” or “This is fine (dog engulfed in flames)”

NYC really did a great job with the marketing on this.

I think the real reason TikTok was successful is it popularized the audio/video meme and the means for them to go viral.

https://www.indy100.com/viral/rats-dont-run-this-city-we-do-...

corndoge

"Do you have what it takes? A virulent vehemence for vermin?"

Vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition?

I'm choosing to believe this is a v for vendetta reference

Ericson2314

Will they put the trash in containers that go were parked cars do today?

If the answer is no, folks we're just wasting our time.

calculatte

To be most successful, you need to start with the rats at city hall

ElijahLynn

What?

"...even attempt to control the movements of kitchen staffers in an effort to take over human jobs."

from

"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."

dropit_sphere

I feel like the qualifications should just be "competent Civilization player" or something.

Actually I think...a lot...of jobs could be filled that way?

karaterobot

Has any city ever had success reducing the rat population by a significant amount and keeping it down over a long term? My memory from reading some book about rats a long time ago is that they haven't, though of course that could be wrong. This job may be more about managing a losing battle.

bredren

There is a fascinating history of rats in New York City provided in the book, Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants.

The author, Robert Sullivan, delivers the influence of rats and ratting on the American Revolution. It goes so far as to draw a connection between rats and the Boston Massacre, IIRC.

It made me look at rats in a new way, I highly recommend this book.

animex

They need to hire Alberta's Rat Czar. The only place in the world that is largely rat-free.

https://gem.cbc.ca/media/absolutely-canadian/s22e33?cmp=sch-... https://livewirecalgary.com/2022/09/21/calgary-filmmaker-alb...

yehudalouis

Any good ideas on how you'd implement a rat extermination strategy?

SentientAtom

What is the deal with juvenile humor in business and government listings? That is an immediate red flag, "derp we're so fun here you're a team player that wants to be part of an inclusive and collaborative family where you can watch your career bloom". Pass.

thenoblesunfish

"Rat killer" is a funny headline but I hope (though I'm not that confident) that this person will not focus on directly killing rats. To state the obvious, for that to work you have to kill rats as fast as they reproduce (which is fast) and the second you stop the situation goes right back to where it was. To take a cue from what seems to work with pigeons, they need to provide less rat food and/or limit reproduction. The second one is easier with pigeons (you can build roosts for them, then replace the eggs with fake ones - this is really done).

Justsignedup

Okay so New York is complaining about companies offering unreasonable salary ranges... And then they offer $120k - $170k! Like seriously that's a gigantic difference for the same one position.

God damn NYC.

tdehnel

I like how NYC is cleaning up its act lately. It’s like it got over Covid and suddenly realized it’s the greatest city in the world and better start acting like it.

boringg

Hope they don’t follow Hanoi’s rat problem solutions. “The great Hanoi rat massacre did not go as planned” Fantastic read by the way —-> https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hanoi-rat-massacre-190...

insane_dreamer

> ... 5-8 years of full-time professional experience in a field related to this position.

Rat killing is a field?

Avlin67

The city of Bordeaux France took the decision to not kill rats https://amp.lepoint.fr/2500131 as it is countrr productive and rats are actually needed

oliv__

I find it funny that after all the talk about requiring reasonable salary ranges for jobs in NYC, the city itself is sort of skirting the rule by including a very wide range: upper range is >40% higher than lower range.

NaturalPhallacy

>Director of Rodent Mitigation

This a ridiculous title, or have I just read too many fantasy novels where they're just called "Ratter". Malazan and their ratter guild comes to mind.

The about section however is a pretty rad:

>Do you have what it takes to do the impossible? A virulent vehemence for vermin? A background in urban planning, project management, or government? And most importantly, the drive, determination and killer instinct needed to fight the real enemy – New York City’s relentless rat population?

Final though: I think it should definitely include terriers (the OG ratters). Those would be some happy dogs.

buzzedword

Feels like a job for Vasiliy Fet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y4v1l5np_o

badrabbit

Why not ask all the nations shelters (especially the killing ones) to ship all their cats to nyc? Why is NYC above the age-old rat mitigation? Works for Istanbul.

lepetitpedre

Well this could work: https://www.reddit.com/r/jackrussellterrier/comments/l2qbf4/...

fakedang

If NYC needs someone who can deal with their rats, they should look west and think about hiring Richard Hendricks.

jelliclesfarm

https://www.harappa.com/slide/mouse-or-rat-trap : a Harappan clay mouse trap. Similar to another found in Mohenjadaro too. Man vs Mouse, never ends.

tiahura

How about training and equipping qualified volunteers to hunt with air rifles and offering a bounty?

29athrowaway

I hope it does not end like this:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.atlasobscura.com/articles/h...

WhackyIdeas

It might seem a rather simplistic and naive, but what if bins (do Americans call them trash cans?) were raised high enough with feet which literally resist climbing or jumping rats from getting to their juicy New York pizza?

zxcvbn4038

"Nuke the entire site from orbit--it's the only way to be sure"

Cupertino95014

If only rats had a natural enemy:

https://tenor.com/view/killer-upset-kitty-gun-meme-gif-86573...

paul7986

Just in nyc week ago and dont recall seeing that many rats in one visit. Though I have never ventured to Hell's Kitchen before as I did this time. Still love NYC ..such a great vibe!

mypastself

Amusing seeing this just below the “Who’s hiring” thread. C’mon guys, I know all about the recent tech layoffs as well as burnout, but switching careers to rodent mitigation is pushing it…

interdrift

120k to efficiently exterminate rats? Dang, I'd love to do that lol

Reason077

What I want to know is: what happened to the last NYC rat killer?

adamsb6

Is this guerilla marketing for the new King of the Hill series?

codemusings

As a European I'm amused how accurate Spin City was in such aspects. Also that city logo looks like it was created in the early 90s.

no_wizard

Honestly based on this job description I can't wait to see who they hire. Sounds like they'll need to be quite the character.

aklein

Kudos to the person who wrote the job description

supervillain

They need to ship all of the rats from New York City to the Sahara desert to turn it back into a jungle.

ultra_nick

What would happen if NYC imported 1,000,000 cats from around the country and set them loose?

DavidSJ

I was thinking anti-rationalist sentiment had gone pretty far, but I had no idea.

RickJWagner

I bet the successful candidate will sound just like Bogey:

"You.... dirty rat!"

loki49152

No mention of Strigoi. I guess they're still covering that up.

jkrubin

They should hire my Australian cattle dog (bash aka babydog)

jelliclesfarm

Vermin is a problem in high density cities world over.

8bitsrule

NYC has a contest for 'top rat-killer' now?

exo762

Pied Piper of New York. They better pay him well.

anshumankmr

I would vote for Larry, the Chief Mouser of UK.

ralusek

Christopher Walken from Mouse Hunt.

ElijahLynn

Salary Range: $120,000 - $170,000

shp0ngle

Just get Pied Piper.

animitronix

One word: terriers

dennis_jeeves1

Teach rats C++.

theGnuMe

queue the movie about this: Caddyshack 2.0

Avlin67

no rats ? close all restaurants. fixed.

baidifnaoxi

Is this talking about rodents or another kind of rat?

charlie0

A pied piper?

m1117

Kitties!!!

keepquestioning

Fuck rats.

black_13

lizardactivist

First, it's NY, the dirtiest city in the world and planet earth's own asshole.

Second, if the city hasn't realized they need to introduce containerized and properly sealed garbage collection city-wide by now, they never will.