As New York fights a losing war against millions of rats , city officials have greenlit a plan that they hope will cut numbers in a humane fashion. The Big Apple has an estimated 3 million rodents to contend with, many of which carry disease as they scurry around the subway system and residential garbage areas. It has led embattled Mayor Eric Adams to declare a “war on rats,” and appoint the city’s first-ever “rat czar” last year.
There has been some progress. This summer, Mayor Adams announced a 20 percent drop in calls from New Yorkers to the city about rat problems. But the latest salvo in this battle is birth control.
New York city council signed off on a pilot program last Thursday that would distribute contraceptive pellets called ContraPest in special containers in the hopes of sterilizing the rodents. The pellets, which have a sweet taste that is attractive to rats, target ovarian functions in females and sperm production in males. Lawmakers say the pellets provide a more humane solution to drive down numbers than current methods which include snap and glue traps, carbon monoxide gas, and different kinds of poison .
California also uses the contraceptive pellets, the only fertility control for rats approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Sanitation and rat experts would establish two pilot program areas of around 10 blocks. The zones, which may be set up in Manhattan, th.