Swampscott has begun deploying SenesTech’s EVOLVE rodent birth control devices in hopes of reducing the rat population without using pesticides.
The Swampscott Fire Department began using EVOLVE devices in late September, supported by Speak Up for Animals and Director of Facilities Max Kasper. SenesTech is a leading provider of fertility control solutions for managing pest animal populations. EVOLVE is non-toxic and made from food-grade ingredients, unlike second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) and other poisons.
“I had been working against SGARs in town,” Deb Newman, the president of Speak Up for Animals, told the Swampscott Tides. “Max (Kasper) and Jeff (Vaughan, the director of public health) had assured me that they sort of had this gentleman’s agreement that we weren’t going to have them anymore, that they spoke with the two exterminator companies that Swampscott uses…so I checked.”
Newman filed several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain invoices between exterminator companies and the town, only to find that SGARs were still being used.
“I just contacted the company,” Newman said. “I requested a pilot program somewhere in town. We decided on the fire station. If it all goes well, I would love to see it throughout town.”
The EVOLVE devices are small black boxes, roughly the size and shape of a hot dog. The main ingredient in them is cottonseed oil, which interferes with both male and female rats’ abilities to reproduce. Each week, Newman or Kasper will refill the bait boxes and monitor the area.
“Sucecss is inevitable when three things happen: proper placement of bait stations, consistently timed bait replacement, and integrated pest management that includes public education regarding trash and other rodent attractants,” SenesTech Vice President of Sales Bryan DiMenna said in a press release. “You may be relieved when your exterminator tells you he caught 50 rats at one site last month, but if he’s not getting close to 300 a week, then you’ll never solve the problem. Just two rats in one year can become 15,000. Evolve Rat stops reproduction which is the only effective way to approach eradication. And, it does so without harming any animals or the environment.”
Other animals, such as squirrels and chipmunks, tend to ignore the EVOLVE boxes, according to Newman.
EVOLVE devices are safer than poisons like SGARs, which, while effective at killing rats, also pose risks to pets, children, and wildlife. Even more so, as rats are prolific breeders, the poison doesn’t stop them from coming back.
“If you’re not addressing reproduction, you’re just playing catch-up with each new generation,” Senestech wrote on its website.
EVOLVE is available even outside of municipal use. It is now available online at HomeDepot.com.
“Exterminators push SGARs on residents. We don’t have any control over that,” Newman said. “So it’s an education thing, to get residents to understand that they need to say if they call an exterminator, ‘I don’t want SGARs. Can you try some of that contraception stuff instead?’”
