DC Tries Rat Birth Control to Tackle Surging Rodent Issue

Washington, DC's war on rats is taking a pharmaceutical turn. City health officials say they'll begin deploying edible birth-control bait in neighborhoods with heavy rodent activity, starting in Adams Morgan, alongside two types of traditional lethal bait—one that's eaten and one in powder form, per NBC Washington. DC Health Director Ayanna Bennett said crews will reduce the current population, then return in about three weeks to see whether any young survived. "You have said that we need a more effective strategy, and so we have come up with a new strategy," Bennett noted on Wednesday at a presser, per the Washington Post.

In addition to the pair of poisons that will be deployed to take out the rodents, a liquid contraceptive will also be disseminated to prevent new pregnancies. Residents are largely backing the move, with some saying they're so rattled by rats they're not even able to handle a deceased one. "There was a dead rat in my yard a couple of weeks ago and I had to call a friend to ... go in the back yard and get it for me," one local tells NBC. "I can't even look at it. It's terrifying."

Early results of the program are promising, with cities like Chicago and New York City making a noticeable dent in reducing rat activity, per Block Club Chicago and the Post. In the Big Apple, part of what helped was setting up composting mandates, doing a public-education blitz, and getting rat-proof trash bins into circulation, Joshua Goodman, of the city's Department of Sanitation, tells the Post. Bennett stressed to NBC, however, that bait alone won't work if residents keep feeding the problem: Trash needs to be contained and food waste kept off the streets, for example. Locals are urged to call 311 to report burrows, holes, or major rat clusters.