A Breakthrough Moment for Our Mission
You know that your mission is having a bit of a moment when it’s
featured in both the New York Times and Saturday Night Live in the same week.
The cause of this renewed interest in rodent fertility control? Last week, New York City Councilman Shaun Abreu introduced a bill that would require the city’s Health Department to deploy fertility-control pellets as part of its effort to eradicate rodents.
I’ve been working with Councilman Abreu for some time now and was quoted in an April 10 story in the New York Times about the proposal, called Flaco’s Law for the popular Central Park owl whose death earlier this year was likely caused by ingesting rodenticides.
That story opened the floodgates. Almost immediately, we began fielding numerous media interview requests about our work. Stories about the proposal were picked up across the country and even internationally, making it into both the Telegraph and Daily Mail papers in the United Kingdom.
Then, this Saturday, it was also featured as part of SNL’s Weekend Update.
“New York City officials are considering controlling the city’s growing rat population by using birth control pellets, which will also finally let female rats focus on their careers,” joked Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che.
(All kidding aside, the SNL writers are onto something. As we’ve previously noted, our organic, plant-based, highly nutritious pellets have been shown to improve the lives of the rodents who ingest them. It’s doubtful they’ll start putting on power suits and working on Wall Street, but they will live happier, healthier lives.)
Councilman Abreu’s proposal has already gained substantial support. The former “rat czar” of New York City gave it a thumb’s up, as have several animal welfare groups. Mayor Eric Adams office is reviewing the proposal and has indicated it is open to fertility control as one tool to address the issue, along with strategies such as moving the city from using trash bags to secured containers.
Obviously, we are incredibly excited about the prospect of large-scale implementation of fertility control. This pilot program, if approved, would be for at least two areas within the “rat mitigation zone” of more than 10 city blocks of residential and commercial properties.
But we also realize that if the law passes and if our Good Bites product is the method selected for this project, we will be facing a massive scale up.
This would be the biggest project we have undertaken, requiring additional staff, research, production, and formal training of city workers to ensure it is a success.
That’s where we’d like to ask for support from you.
WISDOM Good Works is a non-profit, conducting research, educating the public, and conducting pilot programs with a minimal staff.
By donating to our cause, you’ll be helping us to commit seed money for this project and others, so that when as fertility-control emerges as the best way to deal with rodent overpopulation, we’ll be ready to meet the challenge.
That day may be coming very soon, particularly because of the interest generated by the proposal in New York City. Because as the song tells us, if we can make it there, we can make it anywhere.
We hope you are as excited as we are about the renewed buzz around our mission, and can help as we change the paradigm in pest control management to humane, poison-free fertility control.
