Illinois City Launches New ‘Rat Birth Control’ With A Side Of Peanut Butter

Surprise, Chicago has a rat problem.

There are a lot of people and buildings in Chicago, which objectively means there are a lot of rats. In fact, there are so many in Chicago that for the past decade, the pest control company Orkin has given them an honor.

The 'Honor': Illinois City Named "America's Rattiest City" For 10th Year

Chicago even had a viral "Chicago rat hole" in the Roscoe Village neighborhood, in which there was a rat-shaped indentation in the sidewalk.

So now, according to NBC Chicago, a group called the Chicago Bird Alliance has teamed up with a national nonprofit to roll out rat birth control kits. The goal is to take on a more humane approach to getting rid of the rats instead of poisoning.

Chicago Bird Alliance Executive Director Matt Iegleski told the outlet:

We’re using poison still, right? And there’s still rats everywhere, so it doesn’t seem like it’s working

What It Is

The rat birth control is administered to the rats on a peanut butter palette. There are several rat contraceptives, like a liquid called ContraPest or a soft bait called Evolve. But there's no word on which exact one they're planning to use in Chicago.

The organization claims that other cities have adopted the approach and they've had a lot less rats in their cities. The peanut butter approach also has the goal of getting rat poison out of the systems of other animals, like birds.

Lincoln Park will get the first round of rat birth control boxes next month, which is part of the first phase before the rat birth control project goes out into other Chicago neighborhoods.