By Michael Coughlin Jr.
A rodent control pilot using rat fertility control products is being conducted on Cranston and Sheridan Streets by WISDOM Good Works, a non-profit group focused on humane animal population control, and has yielded results that could lead to this strategy potentially helping other areas in the future.
After a group of residents on Cranston Street gathered together to solve their rodent problem through pest management services and even a different fertility control product, to no avail, they contacted WISDOM Good Works, specifically Doctors Loretta Mayer and Cheryl Dyer.
WISDOM Good Works Director of Operations Alaina Gonzalez-White told the Jamaica Plain Gazette that Mayer and Dyer are responsible for creating WISDOM Good Bites, “which is a solid feed fertility control pellet,” she said.
“It’s a nutraceutical for rats. It basically is a rodent feed with an added ingredient that inhibits their reproductive capacity.”
Fortunately for residents, the organization wanted to field-test the product, and after some coordination, WISDOM Good Works started its pilot last summer.
As part of the pilot, 31 households out of around 50 in the area have participated. “Because of the feeding range of a rat, not every house has to participate for the whole neighborhood to reap the benefits,” said Gonzalez-White.
“In fact, it probably extends the range of infertility outside of those two blocks, but we really were focusing on just those two.”
Through the pilot, tamper-resistant bait stations, also called feeding stations, are used on participating properties.
The stations on the ground have tunnels that rats can easily get into, and a container with a measuring stick is placed inside to measure consumption.
For the last seven months, Gonzalez-White indicated there has been a sustained population reduction of between 50% and 60%.
“With this reduced population, most of the residents you’d ask say no, I haven’t seen rats, no we don’t have rats, and I know differently because, you know, I’m watching very closely and measuring,” said Gonzalez-White.
“But what I hear when I’m told that is that we no longer have a rat problem.”
As mentioned, residents had previously tried another fertility control product with no success. However, Gonzalez-White indicated that the WISDOM Good Works product differs in terms of its active ingredient and delivery.
“Our active ingredients and our pellets are completely natural. They’re plant derivatives, they are human-grade food ingredients, so there’s nothing that poses a danger or a risk to our environment,” she said.
In terms of the delivery of the product, Gonzalez-White explained that the fertility control product previously used by the residents was a liquid in that, in the cold, it froze and, in the heat, coagulated.
With this particular strategy having positively impacted part of the neighborhood, it could potentially have a larger impact.
Specifically, Gonzalez-White was of the mindset that it has cross-application potential for citywide use, especially on city-owned or operated properties.
“I think this has been a great stepping stone to citywide application,” she said.
Further, Gonzalez-White highlighted the need for cities to look at other means of pest management due to the increased difficulty in using and getting second-generation rodenticides (poison) and their danger to children and other animals like birds of prey and pets.
She also noted, “If we find that a city government wants to pick it up, we are ready to scale at a moment’s notice.”
Not only has the pilot demonstrated the potential for citywide application, but the work being done is also helping WISDOM Good Works fine-tune its strategies and learn more about the area.
For example, the organization is working on modifying its feeders to hold larger amounts of product, limiting the frequency at which they have to be filled, and designing feeders that are less attractive to secondary species so the product gets to the rats specifically.
Another significant revelation was that the Good Bites product’s attractiveness allows it to move rodent populations.
“If we relocate the feeders, we can redirect them away from houses and buildings,” said Gonzalez-White.
Moreover, regarding larger-scale impact, WISDOM Good Works plans to scale for commercial sale in the future.
Currently, people cannot buy the product, but that is slated to change so that people may be able to buy it and apply it themselves.
“We are aiming for this to be accessible to anybody that wants to use it, and we want it to be available at a price that is not exorbitant,” she said.
Not only would the product be available to the public, but Gonzalez-White indicated that there would be support for those who get the product due to the importance of monitoring.
“You can’t just put it out and say, okay, problem solved, I’m moving on with my life; you have to watch the amount of consumption because that’s how you’re able to correlate a population,” said Gonzalez-White.
She described how WISDOM Good Works uses a data portal to analyze progress, where information such as consumption, time and date of services, temperature, and more is reported.
“We plan to make the data portal a part of all application of product, and we, of course, will be there to support any end users,” said Gonzalez-White.
Although residents are now unable to opt into the pilot, and this product will not be available to consumers for at least a little while, Gonzalez-White provided some tips to fend off rodents.
“The first line of defense and an absolute must is you got to control the trash,” she said. “If there’s no food available, you’re not going to have a rat problem there.”
Specifically, she urged residents to secure trash cans, not leave dog feces around yards, limit entry points into homes by sealing cracks in their foundations, and more.
Overall, Gonzalez-White called her work with residents through the pilot rewarding and described how wonderful it is to see residents work together to move toward a less harmful pest mitigation strategy.
“Watching them try and move away from a non-long-term solution into innovation and demonstrating what is possible has been 100% worth every visit to the neighborhood,” she said.
For more information about WISDOM Good Works, visit its website at https://wisdomgoodworks.org/.