New York City rats might be infertile very soon.
Gothamist reports that the New York City Council recently passed a bill that would allow the city to leave rat bait that includes birth control. NYC’s health and sanitation departments are set to work together to leave the new contraceptives in specific Manhattan neighborhoods, including Upper Manhattan.
A rat contraceptive was tested in a pilot program last year but wasn’t seen as a success. However, the new bait is said to be a tastier formula that the rodents will like.
The measure also asks that health inspectors report on the efficacy of the new bait. The move was made after it was discovered that the city’s current rat poison was making birds sick in the New York area, including the Central Park Zoo’s Eurasian eagle-owl, Flaco, who, after escaping from his enclosure in 2023, crashed into a building and died earlier this year from ingesting rat poison.