Talk about unwanted neighbors. A San Antonio woman says that a commercial dumpster has brought a plague of rats into her neighborhood. She shared her story with local Fox News station FOX SA Puro San Antonio, taking reporters on a tour of the parking lot where the dumpsters are located.
The problem? The commercial property backs right up to her backyard, which has allowed the rats easy access to her property. Not only that, but she says even bigger issues are starting to arise as a result of the dumpster’s location, and unwanted human visitors are also starting to move in.
Unfortunately, she says that the company isn’t willing to do anything about it, so now she’s asking the local news for help.
Here’s what we know about the situation.
Rats Have Infested a Woman’s Yard Thanks to a Commercial Dumpster
Teresa Gonzales became aware that there was a problem after she says her dogs, Maggie and Ivy, who she says alerted her to rats on her patio. The dogs watched the rats all night, the first time they saw them, and Gonzales says she was quickly able to trace them back to the open dumpster located just behind her fence.
The dumpster, which belongs to a company located on the property, is reportedly left open with “trash scattered everywhere,” which lures them in.
“The rodents are now living underneath my shed, which is making a problem for me because I don’t want them in my yard, much less my house,” Gonzales explained, noting that she had a doggy door for her pups, and she’s especially worried that they will eventually make their way inside.
Not only that, but the homeowner told the Fox News station that the open dumpster was drawing unwanted two-legged guests as well, and that people were showing up to illegally dump trash and to look for food scraps as well.
When she contacted the company about the dumpster, she said they hadn’t responded to her complaints. Fox News then called local Code Enforcement officials, who have given the owners a notice of violation and ordered them to fix the situation within 14 days, or else they will be hit with fines.
Rats Can Cause Problems in Your Home
Gonzales is right to want to avoid a rat infestation in her home, since the Plunkett’s Pest Control blog says they can cause all kinds of issues, including creating fire hazards, spreading diseases (like Tularemia and Hantavirus), and structural damage.
The pest control company says that the best way to avoid the damage is to prevent them from entering your home in the first place, which includes exclusion methods like closing off entry points and cleaning up trash and waste that could attract them to your property, like the conditions that Gonzales alleges the dumpster behind her home is creating.