'Delicious' rat birth control is NYC's newest method of eliminating infestation

New York City has officially passed a measure called Flaco's Law, aimed at mitigating the rat problem while 'reducing harm' to other animals by putting out rat birth control instead of poison.

Despite a failed pilot program last year, city officials insist that an updated recipe will make the birth control pellets more tempting to rats, as they've added 'sweet, salty, and fat' tastes to tempt the furry little beasts as the city battles the 3 million rats infesting the streets.

They've reportedly decided on birth control instead of poison after another city hero, Flaco, the Eurasian owl who escaped the zoo and lived free for nearly a year, died with rat poison in his system.

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Edita Birnkrant, executive director of New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets, or NYCLASS, the group known for campaigning to end the use of horse-drawn carriages in the city, said, about the pellets that, “They're basically designed to be irresistible to rats."

"I think we will see a dramatic decrease in the number of rats. And I think we will also see an end to wildlife being unnecessarily poisoned," added Birnkrant. She also explained that humans and their pets had been harmed by the rat poison that's been dropped on streets.

Months after now-indicted Mayor Adams introduced lids on trash cans as a method of getting rid of rats, researchers say the combined methods of 'cutting off the source of food' and providing hormone-disrupting estrogen should help clean up the streets.

Meanwhile, the city’s elusive rat czar, Kathleen Corradi, has yet to comment or really be seen or interviewed about any other methods the city has been using.

But scientists and other rat experts are divided on the new method. Kaylee Byers, an assistant professor in the faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University, told Gothamist : "“You know, in a city like New York, where there's food everywhere. They might choose to eat those other food sources instead of the bait.”

Building super Dominick Romeo, who has to deal with the building's rats himself, "It's absolutely ridiculou," adding that he tries to avoid poison, preferring a "bait-and-cage" technique to trap and kill the rats.

"They go for the bait in a cage," the super said. "The door closes behind them. Unfortunately, you have to take that cage and then submerge it in water, drowning the rats."