NYC Embarks on ‘Model’ Rodent IPM Program, Corrigan Says

ORLANDO, Fla. — In many ways 2005 has been a milestone year in humans' ongoing rodent control efforts, according PCT Columnist Bobby Corrigan, president of RMC Consulting, Richmond, Ind. At the Syngenta Rodent Research Initiative, held last week in Orlando, Corrigan provided a historical rodent control perspective, and noted that significance of 2005, the year in which New York City has launched the nation’s largest municipality level rodent IPM program.

“This is big,” Corrigan said. “It’s easy killing rats, but it’s difficult establishing large-scale rodent IPM programs in big cities.”

Corrigan outlined the three main components of NYC’s rodent IPM program.

1) NYC obtaining a $500,000 grant to open the Rodent Control Academy. Using this grant, the city enlisted Corrigan to teach rodent control to its various city agencies, which included, among others, the city’s Department of Parks, Department of Education, Department of Subway. “It was critical to get these departments on the same page,” Corrigan said. “What’s happened is that rodent populations have become fragmented because humans are disorganized.”

2) A monitoring program using Multiplex stations and Detex blocks. Corrigan said one of the city’s biggest voids had been a lack of a monitoring program. Now, the city is targeting certain neighborhoods to monitor rodent populations. One obstacle the city has encountered is bait stations being stolen.

3) Indexing of all New York City neighborhoods to establish rat population levels. This involves visiting various neighborhoods throughout the city and rating the rodent population from a scale of minor to major.

Corrigan praised New York City for taking this step and said he would like to see NYC’s model expanded nationally. “I think we have to be aware that a disease outbreak could take hold with commensal rodent species,” Corrigan said. “We need to think preventive.”