Rat Rescue Attempt In Peoria Hoarding Case Doesn't Go As Planned

PHOENIX, AZ — The Arizona Humane Society was hoping to rescue as many domesticated rats as possible from a hoarding situation in a Peoria neighborhood. But the humane society, along with its partner Any Rat Rescue, were barred from the property and only rescued one rat before they say the city told them not to return.

The humane society learned of the situation Monday through news reports about a 66-year-old woman found dead in a rat-infested apartment in Peoria. The society heard that rats were leaving the home to find food and neighbors were using poison to kill them, said Kelsey Dickerson, the humane society's media relations specialist.

When teams from the humane society and Any Rat Rescue went to the home Tuesday, they were not allowed on the property, Dickerson said.

“So instead of calling the correct animal resources and organizations, they hired an extermination company who boarded up the residence,” Dickerson said. “Because of this most of the rats that we found were either already dead or were showing signs of poison.”

In addition to the rats inside the home, the city found insects, rotten garbage, feces and debris that it determined to be a threat to public health, said Kristina Perez, the marketing and communications manager for the city of Peoria. She said that the city was pursuing its "obligation to preserve the health and welfare of the rest of the neighborhood" by hiring a contractor to board up the house and exterminate the animals and insects inside as well as set rat traps outside of the home.

When police initially entered the home last week after neighbors reported a foul odor, they had to wear hazmat suits and breathing apparatus due to the conditions inside, according to a press release from the city. Police found and removed the deceased woman, who had been dead for some time, the city said.

The humane society team rescued a single rat and humanely euthanized those they found that were already showing signs of intoxication from poisoning.

While the neighbors might not be aware, Dickerson said, the rats at the home in Peoria are domesticated ones, not the kind found in an infestation of wild sewer or roof rats.

“Domesticated rats are great pets,” Dickerson said. “They can be very loving."

Domesticated rats can be potty trained or even learn to do tricks, she added.

“It’s definitely a very sad and difficult situation and it’s a great opportunity for people to be educated on what the difference is between domesticated rats and the rats they might think of as pests,” Dickerson said.

Domesticated rats, sometimes called "fancy rats," tend to have larger ears and longer tails than their wild cousins. Wild rats are typically solid brown, while domesticated rats come in a range of colors and sometimes have spots.

And most noticeably, domesticated rats are more friendly and less scared of people than wild ones.

Dickerson noted that not only is ingesting poison a particularly unpleasant way for a rat to die, it also puts any animal that might prey on the rat in danger. Those animals could include cats, dogs and birds. Traditional rat poisons are anticoagulants that essentially cause the rats, and potentially the animals that eat them, to bleed to death, according to the Audubon Society.

“I think anyone would agree, we would never want a dog or a cat to be treated this way,” Dickerson said. “Domesticated rats are the same thing.”

She urged anyone who is still using poison to kill the rats that escape the home, or who sees one of the domesticated rats out in the neighborhood to contact Arizona Humane Society for help in humanely dealing with the situation.