A NEW bill has been launched that will allow inspectors to lace rat traps with birth control to combat the growing rodent population.
Residents and lawmakers in New York City have been involved in an endless war against rats and their rapid birth rate that has overrun city blocks and neighborhoods.
Flaco’s Law, a pilot test, will establish a collaboration between health officials and sanitation departments for six months to target several rat-infested Manhattan neighborhoods.
The inspectors will establish two ten-block zones where rat birth control pellets will be deployed and studied.
The goal is for the rodents to eat the pellets and go about living, but they will no longer be able to reproduce.
The strategy will allow city officials to slow the rodent population.
More than three million rats call New York City home, according to the Long Island-based company M&M Pest Control.
“We can’t poison our way out of this, we cannot kill our way out of this,” Councilmember Shaun Abreu previously said.
“When two rats can reproduce 15,000 descendants in a year, you can’t kill your way out of this.
“You have to shut off the food supply.”
Flaco’s Law was named after the beloved Owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in 2023 and took up residence in the iconic park before being found dead after consuming rat poison.
The never-ending rat infestation in the Big Apple has been a focal point of Mayor Eric Adams’ time in City Hall.
But besides Times Square, Central Park, and Statue of Liberty, New York is famous for its abundant garbage on the streets.
Nicole Carpenter, president of Black Pest Prevention.
Adams, who is facing a barrage of federal charges after being accused of accepting bribes and royalties from foreign governments, appointed Kathleen Corradi as the city’s rat czar in 2023.
Corradi’s job is to mitigate the vast rodent population in the city.
Then, in August 2023, Adams and Jessica Tisch, the NYC Department of Sanitation commissioner, rolled out two new methods for improving waste management in the city.
Officials have underscored New York City’s poor waste management system as a central point to the rat infestation the city has been experiencing for decades.
“Everyone who has ever been in New York knows about its vibrant atmosphere,” Nicole Carpenter, president of Black Pest Prevention, told Fortune in May.
“But besides Times Square, Central Park, and Statue of Liberty, New York is famous for its abundant garbage on the streets.
“This waste, often left in plastic bags on the streets, provides ample food sources for rats, leading to their rapid proliferation.”
Since March, commercial businesses in New York City have been required to put their trash bags in garbage bins with secure lids.
Starting November 12, buildings with one to nine housing units will have to put household trash for pickup in large plastic containers, which are said to be rat-proof.
Larger buildings will join the movement in the Spring of 2025.
The new policies aim to reduce curbside garbage bags piling up on city sidewalks.
Fines for not using the correct bin are $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second, and $200 for each subsequent offense.
NYC’s effort to get rid of rats
Some New Yorkers have grown increasingly frustrated with the four legged rodent roaming freely on city streets and sidewalks
Several residents in Gotham have taken matters into their own hands.
- Matt Deodate, a veteran exterminator, has wandered around the city pumping carbon monoxide into rat burrows in yards, parks, and tree pits.
- Deodate generates the carbon monoxide using a small, wheeled machine, which mixes the gas with visible tracer smoke.
- As he pumps the gas into a suspected rat burrow, the smoke billows from each exit point on the ground.
- The New York City Parks Department also uses ice and smoke to eradicate rats from city parks.
- The strategies trap and kill the rats painlessly.
- The Rats is an independent rat-hunting team that has operated in New York City since 1995.
- Members of The Rats often comb through the city streets at night, using dogs to hunt down rodents.
