Annual Salary 200 Million Won 'Rat Killer' Then... Created a 'Rat Map' in New York, USA

New York City Launches Website Detailing Rat Activity
Previously Hired '200 Million Won Salary' Rat Control Officer

The city of New York is struggling with a continuous surge of rat infestations, and this time it has released a map that provides information on rat activity throughout the city.

According to foreign media such as NBC in the US, New York City recently launched a map site containing information on rat activity. The map includes detailed inspection records from the New York City Department of Health. It shows which locations passed the health inspections, which did not, and where rat activity levels are high.

In particular, the map uses different colors to indicate each location based on the health department's inspection results. Locations that passed inspection are marked in light green, places where rats were found are marked in pink, and locations with no health inspection records within the last six months are marked in gray.

[Image source=Pixabay]

The areas with the most buildings marked in light green on the map currently are ▲Greenwich Village ▲East Village ▲SoHo ▲Lower East Side, among others. This means these areas have relatively fewer rat sightings compared to other parts of the city.

Previously, New York City had long struggled with the rat problem occurring throughout the city. In response, in December last year, the city posted a job announcement for a 'rat czar' responsible for rat control.

The city stated in the job advertisement that it was looking for a candidate with the 'killer instinct' and 'conviction' to fight the rat infestations living in New York. The annual salary offered was between $120,000 and $170,000 (approximately 150 million to 220 million KRW).

Subsequently, in April, Kathleen Corradi was appointed as New York's first rat control officer. Corradi, a former elementary school teacher, previously worked in the New York City Department of Education handling land use sustainability-related tasks.

Corradi said, "Rats are a systemic issue involving hygiene, health, housing, and the economy," adding, "We will introduce a science- and system-based approach and no longer tolerate rat infestations in New York, which has been stigmatized as the 'pizza rat' city."

[Image source=US NBC]

Meanwhile, as the city has implemented measures such as hiring a rat control officer and distributing trash cans with lids, recent rat-related complaint reports in New York City have been decreasing. According to the New York City Department of Health, there were 2,350 rat-related complaints in May alone, a 15.1% decrease compared to 2,767 complaints during the same period last year.

However, considering that monthly rat complaints before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 did not exceed 2,000, further measures still appear necessary.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.