CHICAGO (WGN) — Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo is testing a new way to tackle the city’s rat problem without harming other urban wildlife.
Researchers with the Chicago Rat Project have launched a year-long study using plant-based peanut butter contraceptive pellets, created by the nonprofit WISDOM Good Works.
The trial spans a four-block area of Lincoln Park and aims to see whether contraception can shrink rat populations while reducing the city’s reliance on traditional poisons.
“The aim is to find out if contraception can help reduce our reliance on rat poison so that other wildlife isn’t as affected,” Dr. Maureen Murray, a wildlife disease ecologist at Lincoln Park Zoo, said.
Rat poison has long been the standard, but it comes with consequences.
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