Rats in Washington, D.C., will soon be running around full of birth control as part of a new experimental effort to stifle the burgeoning rat population.
The idea of controlling rat fertility as a way of decreasing the rat population comes from SenesTech, which posits that giving rats contraceptives will be more effective than trying to kill them off with poison.
“This method uses fertility control,” said Mike Litterst, chief of communications for the National Parks Service’s National Mall and Memorial Parks, according to E&E News.
The project will feature food kiosks near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and elsewhere around the capital that will dispense ContraPest, a contraceptive substance that is apparently also very appetizing to rats due to its water and fat content as well as its sweet taste.
“So we will not be killing any rats, rather preventing them from reproducing — a means of birth control, if you will,” Litterst said. “This has been approved by the EPA and has been used in other metropolitan areas, including Chicago and New York City,” he added. He noted that ContraPest is a sustainable non-lethal solution that gets to the root of the problem and doesn’t pose a risk to the public.
SenesTech “aims to provide for the more humane treatment of animals, to improve the quality of human life, and to enhance environmental stewardship through global application of our animal fertility control technology,” according to its website.
WATCH:
Washington, D.C., ranks fifth worst U.S. cities in terms of rat population according to Orkin. Only Chicago, New York, L.A., and San Francisco face more serious rat overpopulation problems.
“With the multiple National Park Service sites in the District of Columbia, this concept launch can provide a coordinated response to this growing problem,” said SenesTech CEO, Loretta Mayer, told E&E News.
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