Boston might fight rats by using birth control

Rat poison hasn't worked in Boston, city officials say, but they have a plan B. At a city council meeting this week, Enrique Pepen proposed using birth control to lower the rat population.

“The city and private management companies are wasting millions of dollars putting out rodenticide poisons. … These poisons have failed to keep our communities safe nor resolve rodent issues,” Mr. Pepen said at the meeting Wednesday.

The rodent birth control that Mr. Pepen proposed is a sweetened water that prevents female rats from ovulating.

Volunteers in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood ran a pilot program for birth control at two testing sites, achieving an 80% reduction in rodent sightings the past year, Mr. Pepen said.

The birth control could replace rodenticides, which can harm other animals that prey on rats. Mr. Pepen cited the case of an owl at the city’s Faneuil Hall that bled from its eyes after eating a poisoned rat, as well as harm done to bald eagles, other birds of prey and domesticated cats and dogs.

“In fact, 100% of hawks in our area have been found with these crippling poisons in their systems, according to recent studies by our local wildlife rehabilitators at Tufts University,” Mr. Pepen said.

Birth control, unlike poison, won't hurt the health of predators that eat rats and other rodents.

All 13 members of the city council voted to move the proposal ahead into committee for further review, according to Boston NBC affiliate WBTS.