Latest news with #Corradi
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
NYC opens new front in war on rats as contraceptive program kicks off in Harlem
Rats, not tonight, honey. The city just opened its latest front on its war against its most hated rodents — lacing rat bait around the city with birth control. The program kick-started on city property in Harlem last week — and is expected to cost nearly $600,000 annually for the anti-procreation pellets and a staff of five full-timers, including a city research scientist and pest-control aide, according to City Council documents. The move comes a week after UFO-like 'Empire Bins'' were put in the same Manhattan neighborhood to try to end curbside feasts for the relentless rodents. 'We're incredibly excited and optimistic about all the containerization work we're seeing in the city because that's reducing food competition — and really reducing a rat's ability to reproduce by cutting off its food source,' city rat czar Kathleen Corradi told The Post in an exclusive interview Monday. 'What the science tells us is removal of a food source, removal of those conditions that allow them to thrive, is how we get to achieve sustained production — and we're seeing really great results in that regard,' she said. The rodent 'contraceptive stations' rely on bait designed to specifically woo rats. The contraceptive pellets slow egg production in female rats and sperm mobility in males. The effort is part of 'Flaco's Law,' which the council passed after rat poison was linked to the death of the Central Park Zoo's beloved escapee Flaco the owl. The contraceptives are in tamper-resistant contraptions and pose an extremely low risk to humans, pets or 'non-target' wildlife, a city rep said. The city Health Department will conduct monthly inspections to track signs of rats in the area, according to the legislation. Once the pilot wraps in 12 months, workers will report to the mayor and council on whether the approach has been effective at curbing rats. Citywide rat sightings reported to 311 are down each of the past six months when compared to the same time period last year, coinciding with the city's new requirements for closed-lid trash containers. But not all areas around the city have seen a decrease in rat sightings. The community-board district where the contraception pilot program is in West Harlem has seen a 7.8% jump in rat sightings compared to this time last year, according to a Post analysis of 311 data. Corradi argues that the city's efforts are only as good as property owners' compliance from waste containerization to outdoor dining regulations. '[Human] behavior change is hard,' she said. 'We are doing integrated pest management on city-owned properties, but then the 98% remaining of the tax lots that are privately owned properties, that's up to the property owners to choose what mechanisms they're doing when it comes to [rat population] control.' Corradi added that when one area has success combatting the rodents, she doesn't expect hungry rats to simply migrate to other parts of the city in search of food because the rodent species is 'by nature, hyperlocal. 'Typically, these animals don't travel 100 to 300 feet from where they're living to their food source,' she said.
News.com.au
23-04-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Mount Martha beach box sells for $1m at hotly contested two-hour auction
A Mount Martha beach box's new owner has splashed a massive $1m to secure the shack, setting what is believed to be a new Victorian record outside of Portsea. The 26 South Beach address sold for six figures above its $650,000-$700,000 asking range in a boardroom auction that lasted about two hours. Danckert Real Estate director Alex Corradi said although there were occasional reports that beach boxes at nearby Portsea had changed hands for $1m, nothing official had ever been confirmed. 43 Aussie suburbs where you can buy a home for under $400k Last year a Portsea boat shed featuring a small kitchenette did sell for $950,000, with the listing held by Kay & Burton director Liz Jensen. Also in 2024, a Blairgowrie boat shed fetched $900,000 in a campaign managed by Belle Property Blairgowrie's Mal McInnes. Mr Corradi said the Mount Martha beach box was sought after because it was on a private and protected part of the sand – close to houses worth $20m or so that sit above that particular shoreline stretch. 'The further south you go on South Beach, the more expensive they (beach boxes) tend to be,' Mr Corradi said. Although his phone was 'running hot' after the listing went up last week, he was surprised by the final sale price. 'We had to two bidders who wanted it at that price point who kept going,' he said. 'It's really exciting to see how beach boxes are becoming an extension of people's luxury homes, that sit at that end of the beach.' No kitchen, no toilet but could this $490k church be your next home? The beach box's new owner is a Mornington Peninsula local. Mr Corradi said that Mount Martha was fast becoming 'the new Portsea' as more people moved there, attracted by its proximity to Melbourne and amenities such as shops and cafes. 'A lot of people from Portsea and Sorrento have been moving to Mount Martha in the past three or four years.' he said. Mornington Peninsula Beach Box Association president Peter Clarke said that most of the boxes sold for between $300,000 to $500,000. 'Anything above the half a million mark is seen as a very good outcome and a sort of outlier,' Mr Clarke said. He said beach box buyers did not purchase the shacks as property investments but rather a handy spot to keep water-related equipment. Although beach boxes were often passed down through families, nowadays it was becoming more common for them to be listed for sale, Mr Clarke added. Beach boxes are usually located on council or government-owned land and owners are issued with a license to use them. And sleeping overnight in a Victorian beach box is against the law.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Rat birth control and 'Rat Walks' among new initiatives to curb NYC's rat population
New York City is known for its towering skyscrapers and bustling streets, but lurking beneath the glitz and glamour of the city that never sleeps are 3 million resilient rats that have cemented their place as native New Yorkers. According to Orkin, the pest control service, New York has been ranked as the third rattiest city in the country behind Los Angeles and Chicago. Now local officials are taking up the battle against the city's furry rodents. In 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city's first Rat Czar, drawing national attention. Since then, many citywide initiatives have been explored. Director of Rodent Mitigation Kathleen Corradi, aka the Rat Czar, is taking on the task of educating fellow New Yorkers with a new program called Rat Walks. It's a program available in all boroughs where attendees learn everything about rats, their habits, and what human behaviors encourage the rodents to stick around. In October, Corradi told participants attending a rat walk, "We're doing a lot in this administration to make sure we're containerizing, make sure we're changing behaviors around waste management." Given a $3.5 million budget, Corradi is tasked with reducing the city's rat population. Still, she says it's up to New Yorkers, too, "The only way we are successful is getting an educated public change in behaviors and addressing those conditions that support rats. Extermination will always be a part of the conversation, but we know the long-term success relies on front-end equation, and that's where we're really focusing and empowering New Yorkers," she told ABC News. Several New Yorkers living in rat mitigation zones spoke to ABC News about seeing rats in their neighborhood. "The rats were all over the place, like just 'Ratatouille,'" Shea Sullivan, a NYC resident, told ABC News. Samir, a superintendent, told us the situation in some of his apartment buildings was getting so out of hand that he had to drown rats himself, "I drowned them in water and killed them. This is ridiculous. It has to be changed completely." As New Yorkers are dealing with rats in their homes or neighborhoods, others are taking a different approach to tackling the issue. MORE: Man charged in 'unprovoked' fatal stabbing of 14-year-old in NYC New York City Council Member Shaun Abreu launched Bill 736, or "Flaco's law." The bill passed on Sept. 26, 2024, and will implement rat contraceptives in areas where trash is containerized. He told ABC News that rat birth control can help curb rat populations, but only if trash is fully contained so the rodents don't have anything else to eat. Two years ago, his office also introduced Rat Mitigation Zones, securing $11.5 million to fund the initiative. "Through my legislation two years ago, the city established five rat mitigation zones, and in these rat mitigation zones citywide rat sightings have gone down by 14%, at least, based off of 311 complaints," Abreu told ABC News. In 2024, his office also introduced a residential pilot program to containerize trash in Harlem, an area largely infested with rats. "You have these giant bins out on the street and since we've implemented that last September, trash is now in containers. Now they're not out for a rat buffet anymore. 311 complaints for rat sightings have gone down by 55%. No other intervention has been done this past year," he told ABC News. With the passing of Bill 736, rat contraceptives are expected to be rolled out on New York City streets by April 26, 2025. The company WISDOM Good Works is expected to partner with the city to manage and maintain the distribution of rat birth control. "We've been working with City Council offices as well as city agencies that will be enforcing the bill," the director of operations at WISDOM Good Works, Alaina Gonzalez-White, told ABC News. She says that the birth control pellets are safer for all wildlife, not just rats. "It's formulated to target the reproductive system of an animal the size of a rat. Anything that eats that rat will no longer be eating a poisoned meal." PETA supports the initiative. Ashley Byrne, senior campaigner for PETA, told us the end of rat poison, known as rodenticide, would mean saving the lives of pets that may come in contact with rats. "Ultimately, slaughtering rats doesn't work. The only long-term and humane solution is prevention. No animal deserves to experience the slow suffering and miserable death that results from ingesting rat poison." Abreu shared his mission to combat rat populations more humanely, saying, "My goal personally is not for rats to go extinct. Our goal is (to) coexist in a way where rats aren't showing up. I think our message is very much in line with the PETA message. We believe in New York City, we should throw everything we can at the problem from shutting off the food supply, but also targeting rat reproduction at the source." Rat birth control and 'Rat Walks' among new initiatives to curb NYC's rat population originally appeared on
