"While some women are losing access" — Netizens react as NYC City Council approves bill to use rat birth control to reduce infestation 

To curb the rat infestation in New York City, the council held a vote after which the body passed a bill to use ContraPest, a rodent birth control to manage their increasing population. As per The Guardian, the voting took place on Thursday, September 26, 2024, after which the innovative decision was taken.

The bill states that ContraPest will be placed in special containers, which will encourage the rodents to consume it. The bill passed reads:

“During such monthly inspections of the pilot program areas, the department shall track the amount of contraceptive in each rat contraceptive dispenser."

Furthermore, as soon as the news about this bill reached the realms of social media, many netizens reacted to it. An X account, @PopCrave shared the news on the platform, and one netizen commented by adding how women are losing their reproductive rights, while on the contrary, rodents are being allowed the same.

“Not the rats gaining access to birth control while some women are losing access,” a comment read.

An X user comments on the new bill passed to control the population of rats in New York City. (Image via X/@folkred12)

Many others were eager to know about how the process would work, as they wrote on X:

“Lol so curious how they’re planning on doing that,” an X user said.

“I wonder how they will achieve this,” a netizen commented.

“How does this even work?” an internet user stated.

A few social media users joked about the same, while some appreciated the move.

“Trying to make the city ‘squeaky clean',” a person exclaimed.

“Now that's some innovative pest management! Let’s hope this helps keep our city streets a bit cleaner,” another user wrote.

“That's an interesting approach to tackle the rat population issue in New York City! Using birth control for rats is definitely a unique solution,” an X user added.

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The bill passed to control the rat population has been named “Flasco’s Law”: More details explored

The law passed by the New York City Council has turned many heads and grabbed eyeballs worldwide, as a lot of netizens called it “innovative.” It is also worth noting that the law has been named “Flasco’s Law” after the Central Park Zoo owl, who tragically died from ingesting rat poison.

The law introduces a 12-month pilot program, with inspectors monitoring the use of poison pellets in various neighborhoods to measure its effectiveness in controlling the rodent population.

The bill passed also reads:

“During such monthly inspections of the pilot program areas, the department shall track the amount of rat contraceptive in each rat contraceptive dispenser.”

Furthermore, a similar problem also existed in the United States of America back in 1967. At that time, the government dosed the rodents with estrogen-filled food to curb their population. However, for many years, the problem has persisted, causing a major difficulty for people living in specific parts of New York City.

However, according to The New York Times, the current strategy has also been approved by PETA as the body released a statement:

“Hats off to the council for taking this big step to save lots of precious little lives. PETA pushed the city and its self-described ‘bloodthirsty’ rat czar to prioritize effective control methods like trash mitigation and birth control over cruel, lethal methods such as poison and suffocation.”

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The council is yet to reveal more details about the program and share how and when the bill would be executed.