Is giving rats birth control the key to curbing Chicago's infestation?
Could birth control be the key to curbing Chicago's rat infestation? A new pilot program moving away from rat poison is launching on Tuesday in what has been dubbed America's "rattiest city."
The new program from the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce has crews installing bait boxes with rat birth control in alleys behind several major thoroughfares in the neighborhoods.
In 2024, Chicago was named the rattiest city in America by Orkin for the 10th year in a row. Los Angeles was ranked the second rattiest city in the nation, with New York coming in third.
Alice Howe, one of the program overseers, said the "sausage-like" product contains cotton seed oil, which is the active ingredient that inhibits fertility in rats. Howe said this approach is being used in Baltimore and will be launching in New York and San Francisco.
"I know that it's a problem that all of our businesses and residents deal with," Howe said. "Our neighbors, our residents need to be cleaning the alleys. They need to be securing their food sources."
For decades, the city has focused on urging people to help reduce the rat population by securing garbage cans to limit their food supply, and placing rodenticide in rat burrows.
The city regularly posts warnings in alleys urging people to securely close their garbage cans, reminding people "if rats can't breed, rats can't breed." But most people in Chicago probably haven't given an ounce of thought to rat fertility until now.
"When you say, 'rodent birth control,' I think it was on Saturday Night Live, they were cracking jokes about little condoms and things like that. You really have to think into the science of the product. It does work," said Bryan Dimenna, vice president of sales at Senestech, which supplies the rat birth control.
Wicker Park Bucktown Special Service Area #33 bought a three-month supply from Senestech.
The bait is safe around pets and humans, but reduces a rat's fertility.
Workers will place 100 rat bait boxes throughout the neighborhood, and if they see results over the next few months, they'll reorder.
"Our team's going out deploying every week. So, every Tuesday, they're going to be out replacing the product," Howe said.
The team from Senestech said it works with popular zoos, theme parks, and food manufacturers all over the country.
"We see 61 percent reduction in the breeding population within one gestational cycle," Dimenna said.
In this case, feeding stops the breeding, and maybe a city begins to shake its ratty reputation.
"Whether Chicago is the rattiest city, I don't know, but hopefully with our product, you can start falling down on that list a little bit," Dimenna said.
The goal, Howe said, is to control the rat population without the toxins and poisons that pose a risk to many other animals in the city as well as water supplies.
Test results last year revealed Lincoln Park's beloved great horned owls died after exposure to rodenticide, or rat poison.
The Chicago Bird Alliance passed a policy calling for reducing the use of anticoagulant rodenticides. The group continues to advocate for local birds impacted by rat poisoning.
Results for the pilot program are expected in the four to six weeks or one to two breeding cycles, Howe said.
This effort is separate from the City of Chicago's rodent control program. In 2017, the city tried a rat birth control pilot program on the South Side. City officials did not respond to a request on information on what happened with that program.