City Rats Are Going on Birth Control

Illustration by Tina Zhou / The Atlantic. Sources: Getty September 18, 2026, 11:14 AM ET Share Save A city can have one of two levels of rat. There are cities where rats are glimpsed at night, furtively scurrying into a dark corner or among the train tracks. Then there are cities where the rats are so numerous and so brazen that they work out private disputes by brawling midday on a train platform, or they lounge on your front porch, eating fallen fruit. When rats reach that second level, city officials need some answer, any answer, to their rat problem. Washington, D.C., has reached that level, and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s answer involves rat birth control.