I have been researching sterilizing rodents instead of killing them to control their populations, and it’s much more popular already than I had realized. ContraPest is a bait that sterilizes rats with a few doses. It reduces sperm viability in males and induces aging of ovarian follicles in females, sort of like early menopause. There’s a bit of a lag before the population reduces, but it has the benefits of humaneness, not disturbing the rats’ territories (because older rats stick around, preventing movement between territories which can spread disease), and providing a better longterm maintenance solution. It’s already widely used, and Senestech, the company that makes it, has had big contracts with cities like NYC and Wasington DC.
I was very surprised to find out how widespread the use of sterilants already was considering I had not heard of them for rodent pest control until last year!
I think this is a good cause not only to reduce harm to household pests, but because having to participate in cruelty toward animals can lead to cognitive dissonance or defensiveness or the status quo treatment of animals. Finding out about sterilants got me out of binary way of thinking towards rat infestation (it’s them or me) and that’s the kind of creative problem-solving we need if we’re ever going to make real improvements in wild animal welfare.
I have been researching sterilizing rodents instead of killing them to control their populations, and it’s much more popular already than I had realized. ContraPest is a bait that sterilizes rats with a few doses. It reduces sperm viability in males and induces aging of ovarian follicles in females, sort of like early menopause. There’s a bit of a lag before the population reduces, but it has the benefits of humaneness, not disturbing the rats’ territories (because older rats stick around, preventing movement between territories which can spread disease), and providing a better longterm maintenance solution. It’s already widely used, and Senestech, the company that makes it, has had big contracts with cities like NYC and Wasington DC.
I was very surprised to find out how widespread the use of sterilants already was considering I had not heard of them for rodent pest control until last year!
I think this is a good cause not only to reduce harm to household pests, but because having to participate in cruelty toward animals can lead to cognitive dissonance or defensiveness or the status quo treatment of animals. Finding out about sterilants got me out of binary way of thinking towards rat infestation (it’s them or me) and that’s the kind of creative problem-solving we need if we’re ever going to make real improvements in wild animal welfare.