Lacie Miller

24 April 2021
25702 Paseo Colonial

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

lacierm8@gmail.com

City of San Juan Capistrano Mayor’s O ce

34200 Adelanto

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

Dear Mayor Taylor,

I am writing to ask you to consider what I think is a very important issue concerning

the community of San Juan Capistrano. The issue is the Roof Rat (Rattus rattus) and

the infestation throughout the neighborhoods in our area. It seems that the Roof Rat

has been procreating so much so that it has moved into trees, homes and parked cars.

They breed so rapidly that it’s impossible to keep them at bay. The Roof Rat carries

many diseases and it is a very unsanitary creature. They are public enemy number one!

They “burrow” in or around a home/neighborhood, making it almost impossible to

eradicate because generation after generation return to their birth place to breed again.

I don’t know if you are aware of a company called ContraPest by Senestech (I have no

a liation) but they have come up with a non-lethal way of keeping rodents numbers in

check without disturbing the species as a whole. Their slogan is 1+1 =15,000. That

means where two rats tango, they will produce about 15,000 newborn rats a year.

There have been cities across America turning to ContraPest in desperate hope of

curbing the ferocious, furry rodent. Success has been the outcome for these cities and

I’d like to encourage you and the city council to consider it for San Juan Capistrano.

Perhaps our sister cities will see the positive results, with San Juan leading the way;

and they too might turn to ContraPest for success in their city’s as well?

Just a little background on what we are dealing with; the Roof Rat (Rattus rattus) is

a small rat compared to its cousin the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus). Although no less

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destructive, they get into everything! The small rats can atten their bodies to t

through a tiny crack or opening no smaller than a dime and as they explore various

homes they can spread their contaminates. As you may already know; rats and mice

are known to carry more than 35 diseases. These diseases can be spread to humans

directly through handling of live or dead rodents, contact with rodent feces, urine, or

saliva, as well as rodent bites. Diseases carried by rodents can also be spread to

humans indirectly through eas, ticks, or mites that have fed on an infected rodent. I

will save the ‘ ea’ discussion for another time because I really want to just focus on

this rat issue. Needless to say, I think most people would agree that rodents are most

unwelcome guests in a home, whether it be an attractive dwelling or not. As stated

earlier, rats often times return to where they were born to raise their own brood. So,

really it does no good to trap them humanely; like some people care to do, then

transport them out of the area, releasing them some distance away, which the human

perceives as a good place to ‘retire’ the unwanted guest. The rat, in turn, tries to make

its way back to its ‘original’ home. Furthermore, rats are well aware of their

surroundings and when they see their numbers depleting because of deportation or

being killed, they do everything possible to bring those numbers back up to ensure

their survival. This is where ContraPest comes in.

ContraPest is a company who has found an inexpensive and innovative solution to

the rat infestation so many cities across America are ghting. They humanly reduce

rodent populations and minimize the rebound e ect by introducing a liquid birth control

for rats. They o er a bait that is sweet and fatty that rodents diligently drink up; it works

quickly and has long term results. Every rat depends on liquid for survival; they need

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 10% of their body weight everyday to sustain themselves. Both males and females

drink the solution sending females to menopause and making males basically infertile.

It does not kill them and they are totally unaware of why they can’t produce young. The

rat then just lives and dies naturally. ContraPest has been deployed in some of the

worst infested cities in America with positive results. For instance, they took to the

subways of New York to rst test out the sweet ‘strawberry milk’ and after being sure

the rats were taking to the concoction, they watched over a period of six months and

saw their numbers greatly reduce: 94% reduction in rat activity and a 98% decline in

juvenile rats since the start of monitoring. Washington DC, as an east coast city with a

high population density, o ers plentiful resources for rats in both commercial and

residential properties, added ContraPest to its current program, deploying 139 bait

stations at 13 di erent locations. The goal of the study was to determine the

e ectiveness of ContraPest at reducing the number of juvenile rats over time. Two of

the baiting locations were monitored by SenesTech using cameras to measure rat

detection, counts, age, and demographics over a 12-month period. They recorded a

substantial reduction in rat activity in as little as a month. This allowed them to focus

e orts on prevention rather than constantly battling infestation. The outcome: 94%

reduction in rat sightings. Lastly, San Francisco was being overrun by the raucous

rodents. ContraPest was deployed in public parks and spaces and they noticed a 65%

drop in rat sightings in a very short amount of time. Thus San Fransisco was able to

add ContraPest to the “reduced risk pesticide” list rather than staying on the RUP list

and ultimately giving the city the break it needed to regain ground from the ongoing

rodent battle.

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 ContraPest is a ‘medicine’ given to rats but it’s not harmful to other animals in

case they accidentally ingest it. It's made to help communities who are overrun by the

rampageous rodents. Deploying and baiting the stations is simple and e ective for all.

It allows cities to become healthy again by keeping rat infestations down and reducing

disease caused by the warm blooded creatures. As a city that is becoming overtaken,

San Juan Capistrano, can ght back in a humane way without guilt. Due to low

concentrations of key ingredients, as well as a short half-life, there is minimal risk to

non-target animals that may prey upon rodents who have consumed ContraPest. The

active ingredients break down when exposed to water and soil, resulting in no

bioaccumulation or biomagni cation to the environment. Being a non-lethal formula

with safe bait stations, it minimizes risk exposure to both humans and their pets

including our precious environment.

As you can see, Mayor Taylor, ContraPest is a win-win for both us humans and/or

the environment. We need to address the exploding rodent population not with poison

but with a humane way of reducing rodent numbers to regain healthy communities.

This is a company founded by two women that are doctors and scientists and who

care deeply about the earth and humans as a whole. They saw communities needing a

solution to unhealthy environments and they came up with a plan that works. Its very

low cost and environmentally friendly and communities deploying it are thriving once

again. Please, Mr. Mayor, consider addressing this issue for its just a matter of time

before rodents are taking over our homes completely. I will leave ContraPest

information below hoping you will consider.

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Respectfully,

Lacie Miller - student, Freshman grade 9, Excel Academy Charter School

ContraPest - Senestech

1 866 886 RATS

23460 N 19th Ave. Suite 110

Phoenix, AZ 85027

info@contrapeststore.com

Senestech.com