Chicago Is Putting Subway Rats On Birth Control

The Huffington Post | By Kim Bellware

Posted: 12/23/2014 5:50 pm EST Updated: 12/23/2014 5:59 pm EST

The nation's "rattiest city" is putting subway rodents on birth control.

Egg loss and testicle problems await Chicago's rat population once the Chicago Transit Authority rolls out a rodent-specific birth control program next year, RedEye Chicago reports.

The CTA's new pilot program will use a semi-liquid bait that eventually makes rats infertile when ingested multiple times. Arizona-based rodent control company SenesTech, which makes the bait, says on its website that the non-lethal product is "specifically formulated for rats and does not affect other animal species or humans."

The bait, which reportedly tastes like egg cream, can decrease a rat's litter size "as early as 2 weeks after ingestion," according to the company.

RedEye reports that rats usually become sterile within eight to 12 weeks of exposure.

Last year, SenesTech's bait was tested in several Manhattan subway stations and Grand Central Terminal as part of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Biologist Loretta Mayer, CEO of SenesTech, told The Wall Street Journal that the results of the study were "extremely compelling" -- roughly half of the rats in the small-scale study took the bait, leading to a 43 percent decline in the rat population of tested facilities.

Continued ...

Will elephant contraception work in South Africa?

Birth control for elephants in South Africa is being hailed as a success, after the introduction of a contraception vaccine being trialled by researchers.

Wildlife conservationists believe it is likely to become the way to control South Africa's ever-expanding elephant population.

But the plans have provoked considerable controversy.

Some of the country's most eminent elephant experts are completely opposed to the contraception programme.

Elephants eat an estimated 270kg (600lbs) of food a day and can be extremely destructive while feeding, pushing over trees or breaking off branches.

Unlike in many African countries, where poaching has recently been having a devastating effect on elephant numbers, in South Africa the population is estimated at about 20,000.

For the last five years, wildlife experts in the Tembe Elephant Park, which borders Mozambique, have been firing the contraceptives into the female elephants from the air.

The 300 sq km (115 sq mile) park in KwaZulu Natal province has 200 elephants in its herd - some of southern Africa's largest giant animals with magnificent tusks.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19990483