Merritt Patterson: New York to roll out “One Child Policy” contraceptives to curb Procreation of Sex Maniac RATs

Giant rats are by far the scariest cryptid because they are very much real…

Rat birth control could soon roll out in New York City

The war on rats could soon shift from trash to a new target: procreation.

New York City Council on Thursday will vote on a bill that would introduce rat contraceptives to the city’s rodent-fighting arsenal. If the bill passes, city officials will choose two rat-ridden zones to place the contraceptives, and then monitor whether they reduce rat activity. The pilot program will last 12 months.

“The standard mitigation strategies seem to not be working overall,” said the bill’s sponsor, Council Member Shaun Abreu, at a hearing in May.

Abreu has worked with ContraPest, a contraceptive bait that affects ovarian function in female rats and stunts sperm cell production in male rats, the New York Times reported. The contraceptive is served up to rats in a salty, fat-filled pellet, according to the New York Times.

Rat contraceptives offer a less harmful option for controlling the rat population, according to a spokesperson for Lights Out Coalition.

New Yorker Rat
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The bill, dubbed “Flaco’s Law,” is focused on mitigating the risk of rodenticides on other animal populations, like birds. New York City’s beloved Flaco, the owl that was set free from the Central Park Zoo, had rat poison in his blood when he died.

“We can’t poison our way out of the rat problem, but we can certainly do a lot of damage trying,” Abreu said.

Other rat mitigation steps, like the push to containerize trash, will make the contraceptive more effective, Abreu said. In previous experiments, trash has proven a barrier to the effectiveness of contraception, Abreu said. Rats will still choose trash over edible contraceptives.

“If we remove trash and make sure it’s containerized, it increases the likelihood that rats are actually going to eat the [contraceptive],” Abreu said.