FIND OUT HOW NEW YORK CITY PLANS TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM
The rat issue in New York City is enough of a problem that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have stated that they will begin a program where female rats are sterilized after taking a compound called ContraPest. Basically, New York City’s DOH has come up with a new form of birth control for rats. ContraPest does not allow female rats to ovulate.
The compound is not toxic, meaning it will not affect humans or other targets that are not the focus of the bait. Dr. Loretta Mayer, the CEofor the company that makes ContraPest, said, “When you are up against one of nature’s most successful breeding machines (where two rats can give rise to 15,000 in a year), you can never get ahead by killing.” Although there are plans to administer the drug, there has been no confirmation as to when and where the drug would be placed. According to the NY Daily News, there were previous reports that the compound would be placed in housing projects across the five boroughs. However, that was inaccurate according to a Health Department spokeswoman. The spokeswoman said, “When selecting products, we look at the least toxic methods that will be effective in reducing the rat population.”
In 2013, the MTA carried out a six month trial for ContraPest that cost one million dollars. Because of the results of the trial, the ContraPest program is set to expand in 2017 to additional stations according to a MTA official.
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