The contraception is ‘delicious … and targets their fertility so other rats don’t get the signal it’s bad for them and they also eat it’
The city of Ottawa is considering using contraceptives to bring down a rat population that has been growing out of control for several years now.
“This scientifically advanced bait attracts rodents with its palatable ingredients, ensuring a high acceptance rate,” the company’s web site says.
Or, as Johnson put it to Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron: “It’s delicious and very sweet … but what’s kind of neat about this particular product is the rats don’t die afterwards. It targets their fertility so other rats in the population don’t get the signal that it’s bad for them, which means that they also eat it.”
Construction of the city’s light rail transit system and new housing projects have stirred up rat populations, giving them new places to live and breed, while also disrupting some of their habitats, sending them into parts of the city where they might not have been a problem in the past.
CBC reported that Ottawa has seen more than 100 service requests for rats on private property so far this year, and 779 requests last year. In 2021 there were a whopping 1,197 service requests.
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