New York Considers Birth Control For Rats To Combat Rodent Population

New York City is considering giving contraceptives to rats to control their numbers in the city. According to the New York Times, the city government proposed the idea after an escaped zoo owl, known as Flaco, died due to rat poison. On Thursday, City Council Member Shaun Abreu, who is the chair of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, presented a new bill for handling millions of rats lurking in subway stations and empty lots by using birth control instead of lethal chemicals used in glue traps and rat poison that lead to slow death. 

No traps or poison bait have fully succeeded in reducing the rat numbers, city officials said. Previously, authorities tried to give the rodents contraceptives but the rats prevailed. Now, citing advancements in rodent birth control and trash storage, the City Council wants to try again, the outlet reported. 

The new bill will see the city's health department distribute salty pellets that sterilise both male and female rats as part of a pilot programme. The officials will cover two neighbourhoods within "rat mitigation" zones and cover at least 10 city blocks. Mr Abreu introduced the bill and said this attempt would be more effective. 

"We believe that we need to take a shock-and-awe approach to the rat problem by throwing everything we have at it," he said, as per the Times. "Birds of prey shouldn't have to eat rats that have rodenticide," he added. 

According to Fox News, rat contraceptives will work to block ovulation in female rats and disrupt sperm maturation in males. The pellets are derived from an extract that has been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis in humans for decades. Experts said that salty pellets are supposed to be so tasty to rats that they won't go looking for food anywhere else. 

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Officials plan to use ContraPest, a rat contraceptive approved by the Environmental Protected Agency (EPA). Dr Loretta Mayer, a scientist who created the contraceptive, said that the pellets are full of fat and salt, and were so delicious that rats preferred them to digging through the trash. "It's better than pizza," she said.

This formula is not supposed to pose a danger to other animals or people as it is specifically designed for rats, experts said. It is both humane and effective. "The approach is to feed them, not bait them. But while you're feeding them, you block their reproduction," Dr Mayer explained.