New York Is Pursuing A More Humane Approach To The City’s Rat Problem
One common strategy could soon be banned entirely.
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Subscribe for free to get more stories like this directly to your inbox“Pizza Rat” might’ve made for a viral meme a few years ago, but New Yorkers know that his millions of friends across the city have combined to create a real problem. And while the initial response by many locals has been to reach for poison or glue traps, lawmakers say there’s a better way to reduce the rat population without causing unnecessary suffering to the rodents and other wild animals.
Take it from Bob Barker
If you recall the days of “The Price Is Right” as hosted by the late Bob Barker, you remember his daily reminder to have your pet spayed or neutered. Current host Drew Carey has continued that tradition … and now a variation of it is being considered in response to the Big Apple’s rat problem.
Last week, city council members moved to advance a program that would spread rat contraceptives far and wide as a way to reduce the number of rodents while curbing the use of more harmful measures. The proposal came after Flaco, an escaped zoo owl, was found dead after having ingested rat poison.
Local leaders also want to ban glue traps, which kill rats and other trapped animals in a lengthy and some say torturous process.
How would it work?
As you might imagine, it’s not feasible to teach rats to take their birth control pills. But as city councilman Shaun Abreu laid out in his recent proposal, there is a rather straightforward solution.
ContraPest is a product that interrupts sperm production or ovarian function in rodents and is contained in pellets that can be widely distributed in areas where rats are most common.
Jakob Shaw of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is on board, declaring: “This is not a problem we can kill our way out of.”
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