The Essel family made a deal with the Humane
Society of Ventura County; to capture rats and bring them in as they
cleaned up their property. But to date, Jolene Hoffman, shelter director,
said a family member has only brought in 10 rats. Members of the Essel
family could not be reached for comment.
“At this point, there is going to be an explosion,” Hoffman
said. “Saying they’ve seen a couple hundred rats means
there are several hundred there.” Hoffman said of all the rats
that have been collected, half are females, and all of the females
were pregnant. “Every female has given birth to 10 rats. That’s
amazing. There all at the stage now that they’re starting to
re-breed.”
Hoffman said clearing overgrown brush and setting traps will help,
but using a rat poison that will not harm other animals is essential.
Kim Stroud of the Ojai Raptor Center suggested Generation and Rampage
as poisons that will not cause secondary poisoning to predators. Rampage
and other poisons are available at jefferslivestock.com.
For more information about dealing with rat infestation, visit
ipm.ucdavis.edu.
Liz Cameron, county code enforcement officer, said the family was
complying with the cleanup demands. “From what I know, the inside
of the house has been cleaned up, and they got a lot of animals removed
to rescue groups. They’re cleaning the outside and the brush,
removed a lot of debris.”
But when the Essels began the cleanup, what was once their problem
became everyone’s problem. As nests were cleared out, so were
the rats — right into surrounding neighbors’ back yards
and garages and pet food and tree houses and bird feeders. Right into
the street, where they are squashed by cars and poked at by kids getting
off the school bus nearby.
“We were told that for every one rat you see, there are 10 others,”
said one neighbor. “They’ve set up neighborhoods in my
yard! It’s an infestation. And it’s a public health concern.
We’ve called everyone and complained. Apparently, Public Health
has no concern about it.”
While the county certainly cares about the infestation — “I
have a lot of sympathy for the neighbors and we’ll do what we
can,” said Bennett — the county’s hands are tied.
Why? One word: lawsuits.
“I’m certainly going to push our county experts, and county
expertise, to be available to residents for questions on how to solve
the problem,” said Bennett. “The agriculture commission,
animal regulation and vector control. But in terms of taking action,
it exposes the taxpayer to enormous liability.”
Residents want help from the county; someone to pick up dead rats
from the street before the maggots and curious middleschoolers get
at them. And perhaps some method of rat removal, whether that be traps
or anticoagulant baits or other forms of population control —
“Something!” said a neighbor.
But basically, said Bennett, if the county gives a resident products
to eliminate rats, and they misuse the product and cause injury to
a pet or child or even cause damage their property — that resident
may sue the county. And that is a liability Bennett and the county
council are not willing to chance on behalf of the taxpayer.
In general, he added, “If a neighbor does something that has
drastically affected your property’s value, you do have the
right to consider legal action against them.” He hastened to
add that he didn’t know whether that option would fly in this
particular situation, but “I’m not certain that that should
be ruled out. It’s a neighbor-to-neighbor situation.”
So, the residents are on their own.
“We’re sick of this,” said one neighbor. “We’ve
had rats since last summer, and it’s worse than ever. They leave
the door to the dumpster open, and the rats just go in an out. And
you can’t imagine the smell. It’s horrendous. And the
noise of them at night! They’re everywhere.”
“The problem this woman has visited upon everybody is going
to be very difficult to solve,” acknowledged Bennett.
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