RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Bat in Box Prompts Rabies Concern, Health Department Says Man Showed Bat to People Last Week

An unusual sight in downtown Providence last week as an unidentified man was in Kennedy Plaza, showing off a bat he had in a box.

It happened around 8:45 in the morning on January 23rd.

"This bat, we don't know if it had rabies or not", says Peter Hanney, Department of Health spokesperson. "So out of an abundance of caution we're asking people to please give us a call at the Department of Health."

Health officials were first alerted to the incident by a health care provider who treated two people who came in contact with the bat.

"Two individuals were treated, one for a bat bite and the other for suspected rabies exposure. They informed the health care provider that they received this from a bat in a box from an individual in Kennedy Plaza," adds Hanney.

Health officials say they're concerned about the incident because five percent of all bats have rabies and bat rabies is extremely contagious.

"There's different types of rabies, and the bat strain is really contagious. It doesn't need to be from a bite. It can be just from the saliva if it gets into any mucous membranes or small cuts that you may have on you, you can contract rabies that way too. left untreated it is deadly," says Hanney.

The unidentified man who originally had the bat in a box is in his 50's, about six feet tall with a beard and he was wearing glasses at the time.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Bats Disturbing High School

They're baaack. Bats are lurking in a Charlotte-area high school and it's not the first time.

Students first spotted one bat in a classroom at North Mecklenburg High School before Christmas break. The building was evacuated and the problem was supposedly taken care of. But Monday morning before school, a staffer found another one.

The N Hall is a building on campus that normally houses six classes. It’s closed and quarantined after the health department removed eight bats from inside.

Senior Guy McCrary admitted he’s grossed out. Other students are, too. But they’re not surprised because North Mecklenburg High is 60-years-old.

“It does freak you out. Bats, rabbits, cockroaches, mice—what’s next,” he added.

“They keep finding more and more. I don't feel safe with my daughter back in that hall,” said one student’s mother, who did not want to be identified.

Principal Matt Hayes says when they closed the hole the first time around, some bats were trapped inside.

“By closing the hole, other bats were hiding. We had bats hiding. Now that we closed the hole they don’t have an exit point,” he said.

Instead, he says there is a one-way door to flush them out. In addition, CMS has removed all ceiling tiles to verify there are no other holes.

The problem, they say, is that bats only need a hole the size of a nickel to squeeze through. A private pest control company is working with CMS to get rid of the bats and students are expected to be allowed back in those classrooms on Monday.

A health department spokesman says they tested one bat and it came back negative for rabies. He says they don’t have to test all of the bats because no one came in contact with the others.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Roaches With a Side of Mice? Health Dept. Says 17% More Eateries Failed Inspection in 2011

These numbers could make you sick.

The tally of restaurants shuttered by city health inspectors jumped more than 17% last year to 1,504 - up from 1,282 in 2010, the Daily News has learned.

The closures are fueled by a new letter grading system, which has also led to skyrocketing restaurant fines.

The Health Department banked $42.3 million in fines last year, nearly $10 million more than in 2010.

Restaurant owners fume that the violations are often trumped up and are eating away at profits.

"I haven't heard of an equivalent reduction in the number of food-borne illnesses as a result of the new system," said Andrew Rigie, executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association.

The Bloomberg administration argues that the beefed-up inspections are compelling restaurants to clean up their act.

"The Department of Health will be looking at food-borne illnesses over time, but it is too early to know," agency spokesman John Kelly said.

Kelly noted that many of the shuttered restaurants reopened several days after fixing the cited problems.

Dirty floors and food that's been left out in the open, unprotected from mice and other rodents, topped the list of violations linked to a specific reason, records show.

There was a 35% increase in fines issued for mice discovered around food. The number of fines blamed on mice reached 18,384 during the fiscal year ending June 30, up from 13,657 in 2010.

Under the new system, eateries that don't ace their first tests get reinspected within about a month.

Restaurants can appeal their final score. If the owner appeals, a "Grade Pending" sign must be posted outside until an administrative judge reviews the case, generally in about four weeks.

The increased fines were expected, officials said.

"The agency actually anticipated an increase, because poorer-performing restaurants are now being inspected more quickly," Kelly said. "However, since the inception of the restaurant grading program, restaurants are improving, cycle to cycle."

That's in part due to help from high-priced consultants hired by many big-name restaurants.

"The Health Department has created an entire industry of consultants to help them pass their inspections," said Rigie.

"No one wants to see their customers get sick."

One Brooklyn restaurant owner said she has lost thousands of dollars appealing fines at administrative hearings. Fines range from $200 to $2,000.

"They are putting me out of business," said the owner, who did not want her name used. "How can I afford to pay $2,000 fines in this economy?"

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Housing Worker Kills Monster, 3ft Rat .... and Says There Are More

A huge rat has been speared to death by a pitchfork at a sprawling New York housing project.

Jose Rivera, a Housing Authority worker, was clearing a rat hole at the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn when three of the creatures popped out.

He was only able to nab one. It appears to be almost three feet long, including the tail, is covered in white fur and looks well-fed.

Mr Rivera, 48, said: 'I hit it one time and it was still moving.

'I hit it another time and that's when it died. I'm not scared of rats but I was scared of being bitten.'

Naomi Colon, head of the Marcy Houses Tenant Association, said there have been sightings of the outsize rat for at least six years.

She said: 'The residents have told me that they've seen it running around with other rats.

'She lived with them. She ran into the same hole they ran in.'

Animal experts have identified the monster rodent as a Gambian pouched rat, which is a fairly common pet rat.

They are nocturnal, can grow to three feet, weigh four pounds or more and live seven or eight years, the New York Daily News reports.

Imports have been banned since 2003, when the rats were blamed for a monkeypox outbreak that affected 100 people.

Dr Paul Calle, director of zoological health at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said the Marcy Houses specimen was probably an escaped or discarded pet who decided to join the regular rats.

He said: 'They are a very social animal and live in big groups in the wild.

'Our Norway rats are the closest big rodents it could accompany.'

He said they can be trained to sniff out landmines,adding that 'they're pretty remarkable animals'.

Tenants fear that the Gambian rat has been breeding with the Norway rats and spawning a super-breed of rodents.

But Mr Calle said the imported rat probably would not mate with local rats, and it couldn't reproduce if it did, because each is from a different genus.

One Marcy Houses resident, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals from city or property management, described the conditions there.

'In one day eight big size rats were killed,' he said, adding that they have been seen in the playground.

Another resident said: 'Adults had to grab children and run because a lot of rats came on the playground. The kids were screaming.'

Resident Stephanie Davis, 44, said: 'Even the cats are afraid of the rats. They get together and gang up on the cats.'

Pam Davis, 43, added: 'They're here day and night. We don't dodge bullets. We dodge rats. They're so big, they should charge them rent.'

Alex Johnson
Service Specialist
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Rats! New Bedford Woman Threatens to Sue Landlord

Jacqueline Tome hates rats but loves her apartment. Therein lies the problem.

Tome says she has locked horns with her landlord, Steve Menard, over what she calls a rat infestation for about a year. The 81 Cottage St. resident has filed a complaint with the city's Health Department, has begun to put her rent into an escrow account and vows she and her landlord "will be going to court over this one."

Menard counters he has done everything asked of him. He says "we're happy to clean it up ... but we can only do what's possible." "We're taking advice from the Board of Health and contractors. I don't know what else we're supposed to do," he said. "We're doing everything the professionals are recommending." Menard said he has had no other complaints from tenants in Tome's apartment building and is unsure what Tome "is looking for." Tome's apartment is one of six in the building.

He suggested the rats may be drawn to Tome's cat food. "She yells and screams and swears at me," Menard said of Tome. "I've told her to submit everything in writing."

The city's Health Department has a file documenting her complaints and the numerous inspections that followed. "I literally have no more strength, no more energy," said Tome, a 46-year-old who works for Comcast. "I'm burnt out." So why not move out of the place she has called home for the last nine years? "My apartment is beautiful. I have off-street parking and it's safe," she said.

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA