New York’s latest salvo in the ‘War on Rats’? Birth control

The Big Apple has an estimated 3 million rodents

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.

New York City has millions of rats to deal with and lawmakers hope using contraceptive pellets will provide a more humane solution to cutting numbers. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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, the Bronx, or Brooklyn, include mostly residential buildings that are required to set out waste in containers.

After the program starts, likely in coming months, workers would perform monthly inspections to look for signs of the rodents consuming the pellets. After a year, the department will report its findings to the mayor.

People walk past a mural honoring the late Flaco, the Central Park Zoo’s Eurasian eagle owl who spent a year flying around New York City after being set free and attracting thousands of fans. (EPA)

“The war on rats predates us and will probably out last us if we keep trying the same methods that haven’t been working,” council member Shaun Abreu, who introduced the legislation in April, said.

However contraception on rats has been tested before. A decade ago, a program from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which placed rat bait containing birth control in subway stations, failed to make a dent in population numbers.

The renewed rat-tackling efforts come following a tragedy. Earlier this year, the death of famous Eurasian eagle-owl Flaco - who became a sensation after he escaped from the Central Park Zoo and flew around Manhattan for a year - was linked to rat poison.

A screenshot from New York’s Rat Information Portal shows areas in the Lower East Side that had rat activity at the last time of inspection. Those areas are pink-colored, while those in green passed Health Department inspections. (NYC Health)

Following his death, the US House of Representatives passed the Bird-Safe Buildings Act, which was later renamed to honor Flaco. The new rat-contraceptive proposal is also named for Flaco.

“Many of those methods have disastrous effects, like poisoning our pets and wildlife, including our old friend Flaco,” said Abreu. “So we’re going to containerize our trash, maintain our rat mitigation zones, and test out contraceptives as a tool we can add to our integrated pest management strategy.”

But, rats are ever resilient. New York has thousands of rats throughout Manhattan’s Bronx and Lower East Side, according to city data.

Rats can breed as early as four months old, and one pair has the ability to produce around 15,000 descendants annually.