Hello!

I live in DC and so am super excited about your work here! Our ANC commissioner has mentioned working with DC Voters for Animals to manage rats in our neighborhood and I've tried to get our building involved. Please feel free to connect directly if it's helpful: nitin.sekar@gmail.com

Regarding avoiding duplication: yes, our prize would be open to whoever can meet the criteria we establish around efficacy, palatability, welfare, sustainability, and cost, irrespective of whether the technology is new or not. So if an existing product can be shown to meet these criteria, then they would win. Of course, we are establishing criteria that we believe (i) are necessary for the tech to achieve conservation outcomes in the island setting, (ii) no existing product has been shown to achieve as of yet, and (iii) are technically attainable. So even if an existing product wins, we assume it would have to be improved in order to do so. This improvement-- plus validation of effectiveness from a third party-- should help us get closer to an applicable product that consumers believe in.

Hey Aaron,

So we definitely appreciate Dr. Mayer's efforts, but we are yet to see rigorous peer-reviewed evidence that the interventions associated with her work are effective, and field implementation has not been designed in such a way that allows experts to isolate the effects of contraceptives from rodenticides. Some cities have already suspended their implementation of these contraceptives out of concerns that they are ineffective. It is certainly possible that these interventions work-- but even then, there is almost certainly room for improvement (particularly for the island conservation context), which our open innovation program could help facilitate. Finally, given that any fertility control intervention will exert heavy selection pressures on rodents to evolve resistance, having multiple tools is likely necessary for lasting success. 

Hello everyone-- I have a brief update: since posting this, I have received a number of positive indications and inquiries. If the behavior of other donors is relevant to your decision making, feel free to reach out and I can provide more information on our current fundraising status. That said, there is a lot we could do with even more funding beyond the amount requested here, so any additional donations would not be wasted.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Thanks Kestrel! We did submit an application there as well. But since, as you noted, our budget is a bit on the high side (and, obviously, all applications are uncertain), we thought it would be prudent to post here as well.

I appreciate Cam putting the potential benefits of this work so effectively and succinctly.

I do want to add one thing here though: the plant-based policy at CXL, as well as the interest in this work, is not just a function of me-- it's a function of CXL. My colleagues are excited by the idea of finding win-wins for biodiversity and animal well-being, presenting what to me is a unique opportunity to help bring animal welfare concerns into mainstream conservation. 

Hey Toby, yes I have! They declined to fund this but, due to the volume of applications they are dealing with post-merger, they were unable to make time to explain why. 

Thanks for the suggestion.