Somerville Experimenting With New Rat Control Strategy

SOMERVILLE, MA — The city is looking for residents willing to participate in a rodent fertility control study.

Somerville is partnering with Cambridge’s Public Health Department and Inspectional Services to test Evolve, a hormonal product designed to humanely control rat reproduction. The city hopes that Evolve will be the alternative solution to reducing the rat population instead of poison, which can harm other animals such as cats, birds, and foxes.

Participating community members will have bait stations containing Evolve be placed on their properties. Residents can also volunteer to help deploy the product and collect data on the results.
Interested parties are asked to contact Environmental Health Coordinator Alicia Privett at aprivett@somervillema.gov.