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Officials in the nation\u2019s capital will deploy birth control to try to get the city\u2019s rodent population under control after years of failure.<\/span><\/p>\n D.C. Health said on Wednesday they will start placing \u201cfertility control bait\u201d in targeted neighborhoods as part of a \u201cblitz\u201d targeting the rat population. At the same time, officials pleaded for Washington, D.C., residents to stop throwing food trash on the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou have said that we need a more effective strategy, and so we have come up with a new strategy,\u201d D.C. Health Director Ayanna Bennett said.<\/span><\/p>\n The rat control program is predicted<\/a> to cost around $130,000 and will focus on the Adams Morgan neighborhood first before expanding to the wider city. That part of town is known for its bars and international restaurants.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gonna get the rat population down and then we\u2019re gonna come back in three weeks to see if any of those babies survived and get them, too. But, they cannot stay down if they find anything to eat,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cSo that means everybody cannot be throwing food on the ground. The mayor doesn\u2019t like it and it\u2019s helping the rats. We don\u2019t want your trash to be outside of the bin, if at all possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n D.C Health revealed<\/a> more about the \u201ctargeted rodent control pilot\u201d program, saying that it would improve public health in \u201careas experiencing high rodent impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The \u201cthree-pronged blitz\u201d will include placing rat poison at rat burrows and \u201cnon-lethal rodent fertility control bait designed to reduce rodent reproduction over time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe blitz activities will occur in three-week cycles, where a team of inspectors will apply all three control methods and conduct frequent monitoring,\u201d D.C. Health said.<\/span><\/p>\n The rat blitz was welcomed by residents, who have long complained about the city\u2019s inability to keep the rat population down.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey be in the dumpsters. They be running in groups, like, two, three \u2014 a few too many,\u201d one local man <\/span>told<\/span><\/a> NBC News4.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnything that they can do to help limit the rats I would probably be in favor of,\u201d another man said. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of it. I trust that the science is real. But if it is, the less rats in D.C. is a good thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Other cities like New York have tried similar strategies to control the rat population.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTwo rats in a given year can reproduce 15,000 descendants,\u201d New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreu said<\/a> last year. \u201cWe have to go at the source.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n