LINCOLN PARK — A pilot project aiming to curb Lincoln Park’s rat population with peanut butter-flavored contraceptive pellets — while ditching the use of poison — is set to launch this summer.

The trial will test a non-toxic form of rat birth control in targeted parts of the neighborhood and is part of a growing effort to shift away from traditional rodenticides, which advocates say are both ineffective and harmful to birds and other urban wildlife.

The project is intended to collect data and build momentum for a more sustainable and humane approach to rat control across the city, said Judy Pollock, president of the Chicago Bird Alliance.

“We were increasingly aware that it was becoming a bigger and bigger problem,” Pollock said. “They’re using more toxic rat poison now which can kill them in a single dose, but it also works its way up the food chain and kills raptors. So we see it as a significant threat to birds.”

A Worsening Rat Problem

Chicago has been named “rattiest city in America” by Orkin Pest Control for 10 years in a row, a title driven by a mix of aging infrastructure, dense alley networks and surging complaints during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the city’s worsening rat problem, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 budget allocated $14.85 million to the Bureau of Rodent Control — a $1.5 million increase over the previous year. That funding supports alley and sewer baiting, dead rat removal and inspections, but city officials have acknowledged it’s not enough to keep pace.

A 2023 investigation by Block Club Chicago and the Illinois Answers Project found the city’s rodent control efforts were especially lacking in parts of the West and South sides, where response times lagged and infestations often went unchecked.

That same year, the city’s Inspector General’s Office announced plans to audit the bureau after more than 50,000 rat complaints were filed in 2022, revealing a growing gap between demand and delivery of basic rodent services.

A Different Approach

As city departments scramble to scale up, some neighborhood organizations are taking a more innovative — and ethical — approach.

In Wicker Park and Bucktown, a pilot rat birth control program led by Special Service Area No. 33 and the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce has seen early success. The program, which uses bait boxes filled with a fertility-suppressing product from Arizona-based company SenesTech, aims to reduce the rat population without using poison.

For the Lincoln Park trial, the Chicago Bird Alliance is partnering with the Lincoln Park Zoo, Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43th) and the Lincoln Park Conservancy.

The trial will use peanut butter-flavored pellets designed to appeal to rats. Similar products have worked in other cities, but because of how quickly rats reproduce, it could take several months to see results, Pollock said.

Maureen Murray, a wildlife disease ecologist who leads the Chicago Rat Project at Lincoln Park Zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute, is leading a study of the efficacy of contraception on rats and the effects it may have on other wildlife.

Last spring, a family of great horned owls died in Lincoln Park just weeks after a young owlet fledged from the nest. All three deaths were confirmed as rodenticide-related by the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, Pollock said.

“These poisons work their way up the food chain,” Pollock said. “They don’t just kill rats. They kill owls, hawks, foxes, pets, everything that makes a city feel alive.”

“Lincoln Park is a great pilot zone because of the mix of density, commercial and residential areas,” Knudsen said. “It’s a truly urban space, and if the pilot shows good results here, it’s a strong sign it could work across the city.”

Knudsen said that rat-related complaints are “probably the most frequent messages we get to the ward office.”

“Our business corridors are doing really well right now. They’re packed,” Knudsen said. “That means more trash, and trash is always an indicator of rats. The current use of rodenticide just isn’t doing the job. There are certain alleys we abate every few weeks and the rats just keep coming back.”

One reason is the “incredibly prolific” nature of rats when it comes to offspring.

“They can start reproducing at two months old and keep having litters every couple months,” Pollock said. “Just one pair of rats can produce a phenomenal number of offspring in a year.”

In the coming weeks, organizers plan to walk through a few potential sites in Lincoln Park to identify where the contraceptive bait boxes are likely to have the greatest impact.

“This is a solvable problem,” Knudsen said. “Solving it improves livability and cleanliness. The city hasn’t changed its approach in a long time. We need to double down on innovation and stop relying on old, ineffective strategies.”

To get the project off the ground, the Chicago Bird Alliance is working to raise $32,100 to cover the full cost of the study, most of which will go toward buying the contraceptive pellets. Lincoln Park Zoo is contributing cameras and staff time, and Wisdom Good Works, the maker of the contraceptive, is donating bait stations.

Organizers have so far raised about $20,000. Donations can be made to the Chicago Bird Alliance here.

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