New York lawmakers are proposing rules to humanely reduce the population of rats and other rodents, considering birth control measures and a ban on glue traps as alternatives to poisons or slow, brutal deaths.

Politicians have long been coming up with creative ways to combat rodents, but some lawmakers are now proposing more measures across the city and state.

In New York City, the idea of ​​distributing rat contraceptive pills drew new attention in city government Thursday after the death of Flaco, an escaped zoo owl who was found to have rat poison in his system.

City Councilman Sean Abreu introduced an ordinance Thursday that would establish a pilot program to control the millions of rats lurking in subway stations and vacant lots by using birth control instead of deadly chemicals. Abreu, chairman of the Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee, said contraceptives are also more ethical and humane than other methods.

The birth control pill, called ContraPest, contains salty, fatty pellets that are sprinkled as bait in rat-infested areas. Its function is to target the ovarian function of female rats and destroy the production of sperm cells in male rats, New York Times the report said.

New York exterminators currently kill rats using spring clamps and glue traps, poisons that cause rats to bleed internally, and carbon monoxide gas that suffocates rats in their burrows. Some enthusiasts even train their dogs to hunt them.

Rashad Edwards, a film and television actor who runs Scurry Inc., a pest control company in New York City with his wife, said the best method he has found for dealing with rodents is carbon monoxide.

He tried to use the most humane method possible, slowly euthanizing the rats with carbon monoxide, putting them to sleep and killing them. Edwards said whenever possible, he avoids using rat poison because it is dangerous and painful for the rodents.

Some lawmakers in Albany are considering a statewide ban on plywood under a bill the Legislature is considering. These traps are usually made from a piece of cardboard or plastic coated with a sticky material and can also trap small animals that land on their surface.

Edwards opposes banning sticky traps because he uses them on other pests, such as ants, to reduce overall pesticide use. When ants enter a house, he uses sticky traps to find out where they pass most often. It helps him narrow down his pesticide use “so you don’t have to spray the whole place.”

“This is not a problem that we can solve by killing,” said Jakob Shaw, PETA’s special projects manager. “It’s time to embrace these more common sense and humane approaches.”

In recent years, two California cities have passed glue trap bans. At the federal level, a bill currently in committee would ban these traps nationwide.

“This ends a very inhumane practice of managing rat populations,” said New York State Sen. Jabari Brisport, who represents part of Brooklyn and is the sponsor of the bill proposing the new guidelines. . “There are more effective and humane ways to deal with rats.”

Every generation of New Yorkers has struggled to control rat populations. Mayor Eric Adams last year hired a “rat czar” to combat the abominable rodents. Last month, New York City reduced the amount of food available to rats by requiring all businesses to put their trash in boxes.

While the war against rats shows no sign of ending, exterminator Edwards says there’s a lot we can learn from their resilience. Rodents can never be eradicated, only managed, he said.

“They’re very smart, very sensible,” he said. “It was very inspiring, but just — not in my home.”