Indiana’s Exotic Feline Rescue Center Using Rat Birth Control

Center Point, Indiana (October 10, 2022) - ContraPest rat birth control is a lower risk, sustainable way of controlling rat populations and poses lower risk to non-target animals. At Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Indiana, it could almost be a modern day twist to the Aesop’s Fable “The Mouse and the Lion,” including not only lions but also cougars, bobcats and, well, rats instead of mice. Exotic Feline Rescue is one of a growing number of animal sanctuaries, zoos and wildlife preserves as well as municipalities and farms successfully deploying the new rat birth control and experiencing a reduction in rat populations often by more than 90 percent.

“ContraPest puts our mind at ease. We are trying to get further and further away from poison because of its danger to owls and any other wildlife that feeds off rats,” said Rebecca Rizzo, the head feline keeper at Exotic Feline Rescue Center. “The rats don’t affect the big cats but we are dedicated to protecting all kinds of animals – including the rats, as much as possible. We would like to switch to ContraPest all the way in the near future.”

Rizzo is known as “Tiger Mom” for her devotion not only to the felines but all the animals at the rescue center. She says the rats are heartily drinking up the birth control, devouring the milkshake-like substance. It doesn’t hurt them – it just limits their fertility as long as they continue to consume it. Given that two base rats can produce generations totaling 15,000 rats in approximately one year, National Geographic, fertility control is imperative to combat soaring rat populations. Hoosiers may have noticed more rats around than usual this time of year. That’s because it’s harvest time when rats are looking for new homes.

“ContraPest is a new, 21st century solution to an age-old problem,” said Kenneth Siegel, CEO of SenesTech, makers of ContraPest. “Left unchecked, rats reproduce faster than poisons, traps or any other lethal means alone can eliminate them. Without birth control, their population often rebounds beyond its original level within a few months of using traditional rat control methods alone. There is an urgent need for rat control that is effective and environmentally responsible.”

In addition to places like Exotic Feline Rescue Center, cities and communities around the country are using ContraPest with great success, including municipalities like San Francisco; Hartford; Columbus; Washington, DC and Newton, Massachusetts, all of which are successfully incorporating ContraPest into their pest management programs. Municipalities are strategically deploying ContraPest along with other more traditional methods of rat control in large public parks, gathering spots and in neighborhoods with high rat activity to accelerate results and prevent rebounding activity. The product is also being deployed in agricultural settings around the United States on farms, Bakersfield, in food processing and foodservice facilities as well zoos, large wildlife preserves and even prisons. In addition, the state of California enacted legislation in January 2021 prohibiting the use of the four major second generation anticoagulant rodenticides under many circumstances with Los Angeles County specifying that rat fertility control be used in a recent bid for pest services. Other communities around the country also are enacting or considering similar regulations accelerating the need for a non-lethal, non-poison form of rat control.

ContraPest is a “milkshake for rats.” It is a liquid formulation of birth control that is high in fat, sweet tasting and very attractive to rats, which need to consume approximately 10 percent of their body weight in water each day. ContraPest targets the reproductive capabilities of both sexes in rat populations, inducing egg loss in female rats and impairing sperm development in males. It can be used alone or in conjunction with other rodent control methods. It is available for use in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

SenesTech, the company that manufactures ContraPest, provides two ways to reach rats. When targeting Norway rats that live on the ground, the product is deployed in traditional bait boxes. For harder to reach roof rats, the company has recently started selling the Elevate Bait System™ with ContraPest® which is easily deployed in elevated indoor spaces with multiple options for mounting in the rafters of barns, granaries, attics, lofts, and storage and manufacturing facilities. The suspended bait station is easily accessible by roof rats, but out of the way of people, pets, livestock, and food storage areas. For more information visit https://contrapeststore.com.