New York greenlights rat birth control to curb city’s infestation

Program signals possible change of strategy in the eternal war between New Yorkers and their least favorite neighbors

New York's seemingly eternal battle against its rodent population has taken a new twist after the city council greenlighted pilot schemes to deploy rat contraceptives in a new bid to curb their booming population.

The Thursday-night vote means that in the next few months pilot programs will begin using ContraPest, a type of rodent birth control, that will be put in special containers aimed at encouraging the rats to ingest it.