RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Rat Bites Subway Rider at Station

New York transit workers said a rat bit a subway rider on the foot while she was waiting for a train at a downtown station.

Transit sources told the New York Daily News the woman, who was described as in her 20s, was sitting on a bench at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station at about 9:30 a.m. Monday when the rodent ran up and bit into the flesh of her foot.

"She was pretty frantic and upset," one transit worker said. "You could actually see the bite."

Authorities said the woman was treated at New York Downtown Hospital and released.

Officials with Transport Workers Union Local 100 said rats are becoming more common at stations because of infrequent garbage collection and poor seals on trash storage rooms.

City transport officials declined to comment, the Daily News said.

Source: DailyNews.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

There is a rodent problem at a southeast Atlanta elementary school.

For months parents told Channel 2 Action New Thomasville Heights Elementary School was infested with rats, and now videos, emails and pictures support their claims.

The school district gave Channel 2's Erica Byfield the documentation after she made an open records request.

Surveillance video from October of this year shows a rodent scurrying through the halls.

Byfield first heard about a possible rat problem from parents.

On Nov. 10, Byfield confirmed the issue after obtaining a letter the school's principal sent to parents.

At the time, one parent told her she saw a rat in the school.

"The rats are so big they look like the size of a rabbits," parent Sherrilyn Cullins said.

An email from August describes why an employee called her supervisor crying uncontrollably.

"A very large field mouse had jumped on top of her when she entered the pantry this morning," the email said.

Another email written in February addresses how big the rodents are.

"They will need a large trap, the visual sight of the rodent is similar to a wood rat," it said.

There are also reports the staff at the school had to throw out food after finding gnaw marks on packages of crackers and pounds of flour and sugar.

The documentation also included pictures.

There are photos of droppings in the kitchen and classrooms, traps officials placed around the school and images of holes in the ceilings and walls. Officials believe the rodents crawled into the building gaps. There was also a photo of a rodent in the copier machine.

An email the school's principal Charles Penn sent to district leaders in October said, "Please be advised that we killed a mouse this morning in a kindergarten classroom and another in my office. Additionally, our conference room copier continued to jam."

The photos also included evidence of changes leaders instructed their staff to make to keep the rats out. There is a picture of a hole in the ceiling someone sealed.

District spokesman Keith Bromery told Byfield as of Nov. 23, the school's staff had not seen any signs of rodents since early November.

Source = cnn.com

Famous Brooklyn Pizzeria Has Again Been Closed by the City Health Department

One of Brooklyn’s most beloved — and frequently shuttered — pizzerias has again been closed by the city, and the owner says he’s happy to get the time off. “The only time I get to relax is when they close us,” said Domenico DeMarco, the owner of the legendary Di Fara Pizza on Avenue J in Midwood, who jokingly posed with his daughter behind the gate of his restaurant as if in prison after the Health Department forced them to close last week.

But the violations are no joke.

The city reported the 46-year-old pizzeria at the corner of E. 15th Street, known for it’s drop-dead Sicilian pie, racked up 67 violation points during last week’s inspection and was cited for mouse droppings “throughout the kitchen,” enough to shut the store and require the owner to take a course in food protection. Once the place is cleaned up and proof is provided to the city that the course has been completed, the world-famous joint will be allowed to reopen.

The DeMarco family argued it was caught off guard by the inspection thanks to what they called a perfect storm of bad timing and new city rules.

“The person who was supposed to come in and clean on Nov. 16 wasn’t able to make it, because they had a medical emergency,” said Margy DeMarco, who works alongside her father in the shop. “The inspector came that day.”

She also blamed a paperwork-related delay thanks to the massive Occupy Wall Street protests in the city on Thursday for keeping the shop closed longer than it should have been, and claimed she is now waiting on the city to reinspect the restaurant so the family could re-open it.

Pizza lovers who for years have waited up to an hour just to get their hands on an expensive-yet-mouth-watering slice were understandably devastated by the closure, and some reasoned that a ticket-happy city was simply making an example of their favorite pizzeria.

“It’s a symbolic shutdown just to strike fear through everybody else,” said Scott Wiener, a Di Fara disciple who leads pizza-tasting tours around the city.

And all the pizza-lovers we talked to vowed to return as soon as the shop reopens, mice or no mice.

“Is it worth risking rodent-borne illness?” wondered Josh Bauchner, a Di Fara enthusiast. “Certainly.”

That risk could remain: when one of our reporter’s visited to the pizza shrine on Monday, a mouse scurried under the oven, leaving us wondering if the next time we go back (and we will!), will we be getting toppings … or droppings.

It’s the third time the pizzeria has been closed by the city because of uncleanliness since 2007, and each time mouse droppings were involved. Back in 2007, it was closed twice between March and June.

The restaurant had received a B rating from the city prior to this week’s closure.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

African Rat Protects Itself with Poison

Researchers, including U.S. conservationists, say they've discovered the first known mammal to use plant poison to defend itself.

A predator trying to make a meal of the African crested rat is in for a surprise, the researchers said, because the rats apply a poisonous plant toxin to sponge-like hairs on its flanks.

"The African crested rat is a fascinating example of how a species can evolve a unique set of defenses in response to pressure from predators," said study co-author Tim O'Brien of the Wildlife Conservation Society in a WCS release Tuesday.

"The animal and its acquired toxicity is unique among placental mammals."

The researchers discovered the rat gets its poison from the bark of the Acokanthera tree, the same source used by East African hunters for poison arrows, by chewing the bark and applying its saliva to its flanks.

Scientists have long suspected the African crested rat is poisonous, with many accounts of dogs becoming ill or dying after encounters with the rodents.

But instead of producing poison itself, as the duck-billed platypus does, the African crested rat takes its toxin, called ouabain, from the external source, the tree.

A remaining mystery, researchers say, is how the animal uses the poison without succumbing to it.

Source = upi.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

UPDATE: Wal-Mart Deli, Bakery Reopen After Rodent Problem

The deli and the bakery at the Wal-Mart superstore in Lebanon have reopened after being shut down for a rodent problem.

News 8 initially reported the problem on Thursday, Aug. 4. A store spokeswoman said the problem was first discovered at the end of June but that pest control efforts were unsuccessful. The spokeswoman would not say what type of rodent had gotten into the store.

Here is the complete statement the company issued on Thursday:

"Unfortunately it has come to our attention that rodents have found their way into our store in Lebanon, Pa. We are aware of the situation and we are working to resolve this issue.

As part of our commitment to food safety, the bakery and deli remain closed until the problem can be corrected. We’re working with a pest control company, a professional cleaning service and the Department of Agriculture to remedy the situation.

We make every effort to ensure our stores are clean and pest free and apologize to our customers for this inconvenience. Once the Department of Agriculture inspects our store and gives us the okay to re-open, we will."

On Friday, a company spokesperson updated the situation, saying the store had passed the inspection and the deli and bakery are open for business

Source = wgal.com

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Rat-Infested, Squid-filled Pirate Boat Sitting Off Alaska

The Seattle-based U.S. Coast Guard cutter Midgett, on a September Bering Sea fishing patrol, got the call for an abrupt change of course. For a days-long voyage, it cruised to the southwest to intercept a rusting, rat-infested vessel — suspected of illegal drift-net fishing — that had been boarded in international waters.

The vessel — the Bangun Perkasa — with 22 Chinese and Indonesian crew members — was not registered with any nation. So, it had been seized.

The Midgett's job was to escort the vessel back to the edge of Alaska's coastal waters in a marathon cruise that began Sept. 19 and ended earlier this week. To prevent evidence from being destroyed, some of the Midgett crew took turns standing watch and sleeping, aboard the Bangun Perkasa.

"These were pretty deplorable conditions," said Capt. Craig Lloyd, chief of response for the Coast Guard's 17th District. "In some cases, they were waking up, and there were rats crawling about."

The seizure of the Bangun Perkasa put a spotlight on international efforts to crack down on illegal high-seas drift-net fishing, which can ensnare birds, marine mammals, turtles and many other sea creatures as well as the targeted species and has been outlawed by a United Nations convention.

Each year, the U.S. Coast Guard joins with other nations to search remote sections of the international waters of the Pacific for illegal drift-net vessels. This year, a Fisheries Agency of Japan spotter plane initially reported the sighting of the Bangun Perkasa to the Kodiak-based U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro, which then conducted the initial boarding.

Typically, the illegal fishing vessels are turned over to law-enforcement authorities in the nation where they are homeported. But the Coast Guard determined that the Bangun Perkasa had no legal registration, so the vessel — along with its 10 miles of drift nets and 30-ton catch of squid — was seized.

As the Bangun Perkasa approached Alaska, the Coast Guard reached out to more than 20 federal, state and other agencies to develop a plan to handle the vessel, which under Alaska state law cannot legally enter coastal waters with rats on board.

Rats are an invasive species in the Aleutian Islands that can prey on birds and other wildlife. Though the port of Dutch Harbor already battles Norwegian rats, there are concerns that the vessel could harbor other species of rats or rodents that would intensify the problem — or rats that are resistant to rodenticides and could breed with the local population, according to Steve Ebbert, a biologist with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, suggested the vessel be used for gunnery practice, and sunk.

"It would send an unambiguous signal that pirate fishing is unacceptable," Begich said in a written statement. " It will prevent this rust bucket from ending up back on the market where it most likely would fall into the hands of some other pirate."

But at least for now, that's not the plan.

Instead, the Coast Guard, working with partner agencies, awarded a contract to Magone Marine Service in Dutch Harbor to rid the vessel of rats while it remains moored in offshore waters and to make all necessary repairs. Dan Magone, the owner of the business, is a savvy veteran of all sorts of Aleutian Islands mishaps that require salvage, cleanups and other tasks.

"They don't call us unless its strange, that's a prerequisite," Magone said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

But Magone says he's up to the task of killing the rats, and that the most challenging part of the job has been working through the bureaucracy of agencies.

Once the rats are gone, the Bangun Perkasa, will be turned over to NOAA Fishery agents. They will inspect the vessel and decide what to do with it, and also inspect the 30-ton catch, and decide whether it can be sold.

If a sale is approved, the squid, which has been kept refrigerated, won't be marketed for human consumption, according to Julie Speegle, a NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman in Alaska.

The crew is already in Anchorage, and will be sent back to their home countries, according to Jeff Lisius, of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Source = Associated Press

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

This was way too good not too share! As I have said before…..we see it all! If not for nothing the pest control business is certainly interesting and entertaining! What am I looking at in this picture? We call this one mad man with a hammer. This guy had a rat in his house so he used store bought rat poison and the result is a dead rotting rat carcass somewhere in his house. The bonus is the 2,000 blow flies that are swarming in all rooms of his house. The odor was so bad and offensive that he started ripping out his sheetrock to find it. After turning his basement into a disaster area he never found the dead rat.

EHS was able to come in and solve the rat issue. What we do is once rats have breached the structure we do not use a rodenticide for the very reason this picture depicts. We structurally exclude the rats and use mechanical traps until the problem is eliminated. Just another draw back to “do it yourself” pest control.

Mike “Spike McGoldrick
Service Supervisor

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Woman Dies After Being Bitten by Rats Thriving in Her House

The elderly woman was believed to have been left helpless in her home as it was overrun by rats while she was bedbound following a stroke.

Days after being attacked the 80-year-old was rushed to hospital where she died more than two weeks after she was admitted.

Thames Valley Police have launched an investigation into the death and were believed to be probing the pensioner's living conditions.

Neighbours in the quiet suburb of Reading, where the woman lived, have been temporarily evacuated while the council tries to bring the rodent infestation under control.

They claim the problem became much worse after the council moved to fortnightly household refuse collections instead of weekly.

They told how rats were entering their homes through pipes and even coming up through the lavatories.

One man even claimed he had found rats under his daughter's bed.

However Reading Borough Council officials, who along with Thames Water, have launched a probe into the epidemic, strongly denied the allegation.

"At this stage there has been no reports of rats using bins as a food source. There is no link between the move to weekly separated waste collections where households follow the advice given to them and keep there refuse in a closed wheelie bin," said a spokesman.

The elderly woman was believed to have been attacked by rodents in her bed as she lay convalescing at the end of June.

She and her neighbours were evacuated from their homes to nearby bed and breakfasts following the incident.

However, the woman was rushed to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, on July 1, where she died between July 14 and 15.

James Sullivan, aged 16 years, who lived next door told how his six-year-old sister awoke with two rats on her bed and will no longer sleep in her own room as a result.

He also said that a rat had gnawed a hole through the draught excluder by his bedroom door.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and heard gnawings so I looked down and there was a rat crawling through," he said.

His mother Alison Sullivan said they had been calling the council know about the rat problem for the past three years.

It also emerged that the local authority charge almost 12 times more to call out pest controller than neighbouring counties.

In Reading a call out costs £114 pounds – which is a £104 pounds more than the £10 pounds charged in Slough.

The council spokesman said the cost was introduced by the previous administration and was being monitored by the new administration with a view to review them if deemed necessary.

Thames Water has been baiting and investigating its sewage network while the council was doing drainage work in the area this week.

"The current evidence points to a drainage issue and this is where are efforts are being focused at this present time," said the council spokesman.

Source = Daily UK

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Click on image to enlarge

If rats want to get in they will! They will gnaw through anything in their path including wood, concrete, and metal! Rats have a total of 16 teeth in their mouth, 12 tiny molars (used for grinding), and four long, sharp, incisors in the front. Rat teeth are amazingly hard. They’re actually harder than copper, platinum and even iron. On the hardness scale the rat’s lower incisors rate 5.5, which is about the same as a steel nail (diamond is 10).

So how much pressure can a rat exhibit? Look at the chart below & be totally amazed!!!

The picture you see is a rat burrow in asphalt. This burrow is right up against the foundation and allows the rats to get inside the building.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA