Woman agrees to leave rat 'friends'
Woman agrees to leave rat 'friends'
Hundreds of rodents in home
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROCHESTER -- A reclusive, independent woman whose home has been ruined by hundreds of rats she calls "friends" has agreed to move into an assisted living center, and officials were scurrying Friday to find one for her.
Michele Diller, 64, who had rebuffed efforts to help her by a wide range of agencies, changed her mind to regain possession of her cat, which was confiscated along with 11 caged animals -- four severely malnourished snakes, five mice and two rats -- Susanne Beauregard, Thurston County's animal services director, said Friday.
"I told her I would let her have her cat back if she agreed to move," a relieved Beauregard said.
Diller told KOMO/4 late Thursday that she was ready to leave, but as of midday Friday she was still in the house, and Beauregard still had the cat as agencies sought alternative housing and considered what to do about the rats, which have begun turning up in neighbors' yards on the outskirts of this community in southwestern Thurston County.
"Initially she was saying, 'You can't hurt them, they're my friends,' " Beauregard said.
"I don't have a problem with any animal," Diller told KOMO.
Unlike the snakes, which were on the verge of death from starvation when they were taken to a veterinarian for recovery efforts Wednesday, the cat was plump and in good health except for a runny nose and eyes because of ammonia from the overpowering stench of rat urine and feces throughout the house, Beauregard said.
The county is likely to charge Diller with animal cruelty over the treatment of the snakes, two boa constrictors, a corn snake and a king snake, "if that's the only way to (ensure) that she gets a mental heath evaluation," the animal control director added.
The rats, apparently the progeny of a few that escaped after Diller bought them as food for the snakes, have gnawed through wiring, walls, cupboards and drawers, "so there's no lights or heat or sewage" disposal, Beauregard said.
She said Diller came to the attention of authorities through a concerned official from the Area Agency on Aging.
"It was known that she wasn't normal and that there were difficulties," but when authorities went to the house, she was uncooperative and uncommunicative "so they had no way of knowing how bad things were," Beauregard said.
A neighbor, Alicia Oleachea, told The Olympian in the state capital that a white rat died on her lawn about a month ago, and another neighbor distributed a letter in the area with word that rats were escaping from the home.
Last month an animal services officer, Erika Ellenbecker, managed to talk her way inside and found the floor covered with rat droppings and the carpets squishy with urine.
"When my officer went in there, she could hardly breathe, Beauregard said.
For a time, she said, "we were hoping that perhaps she would let us help her with the snakes, but she wouldn't," Beauregard said.
Other pressing cases also preoccupied Beauregard and her staff until Wednesday, when a search warrant was served by her, Ellenbecker and personnel from the sheriff's and prosecutor's offices, each equipped with hazardous-materials protective gear and a breathing apparatus.
"I wouldn't go in there without a hazmat suit and a respirator," Beauregard told The Olympian.
Rats ranging from white laboratory-type rodents to red Norway rats, apparently the result of interbreeding between wild and domesticated animals, were everywhere and could be heard scurrying and gnawing inside the walls.
Cupboards and walls were riddled with rat holes, and the bottoms had been chewed out of all the drawers.
The refrigerator was on, but otherwise the electricity seemed to be "very spotty. Nothing else worked," she said.
"The house needs to be razed and rebuilt," Beauregard said.
"This is going to be a big problem. These are not little rats. These are big rats ... maybe 2 pounds," she said. "They are not afraid of people. They'll come right up to you."
Diller apparently moved to Rochester from somewhere in California four or five years ago.
She seems to have no friends in the area, and her only known relative is a brother, who is at an undetermined location in California, Beauregard said.
"She has no support system at all," Beauregard said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/358746_rats12.html?source=mypi
Here's a news video, all I can say is WOW!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/04/11/zahn.living.with.rats.komo
