New York City seeking to appoint 'rat tsar' with 'killing instinct'

New York City's Mayor Eric Adams' office put out a new job listing on Wednesday geared with stronger intentions and a clearer game plan to save the city from rats.

Brown rats have taken over New York City since the time of the Revolutionary War. For decades, city officials have tried to tackle the city's rodents issue and failed miserably each time.

According to a New York Times report, the newly created position, "director of rodent mitigation", seeks an individual with a bachelor's degree, five to eight years of relevant experience and, "most importantly, the drive, determination and killer instinct needed to fight the real enemy — New York City's relentless rat population."

"The ideal candidate is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty," the listing reads.

The selected candidate can be paid up to $170,000 (£139,000) for the job.

It is described as "a 24/7 job requiring stamina and stagecraft" for city residents with a "swashbuckling attitude, crafty humour, and general aura of badassery".

The responsibilities that the lucky chosen one will have to carry out include developing rat mitigation strategies, managing projects and policy initiatives across city agencies, and leading from the front with hands-on extermination techniques.

"Rats will hate this job posting. 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," states the job description.

Meanwhile, other measures have been taken to combat the Big Apple's "real enemy". Street-wide storage bins have been installed, vermin-proof heavy-duty bin bags have been introduced and garbage schedules have been altered and corrected numerous times.

Rat sightings have skyrocketed in recent years, with complaints to the city's customer service number up 67% from 2019, according to BBC.

There are an estimated two million rats crawling through the city's streets and subways, or about one for every four New Yorkers.