The MTA is poised to go after rats where it hurts them the most.
With traps and poisons proving insufficient, the transit authority confirmed Sunday that it will test out a new birth-control bait designed to permanently sterilize the ubiquitous rodents.
“We want to find out if this will work,” said MTA spokeswoman Judie Glave. “It’s not going in a subway station. It’s going to be in a non-public space within the system.”
She did not offer a specific timeline, other than to say it will happen sometime this year.
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the birth-control bait would induce early-onset menopause in rats. Funding for the pilot project comes entirely from the National Institutes of Health.