Animal Rescuers Hoping For Happy Ending For Remaining Domestic Rats At Rocky Point Home

ROCKY POINT, NY — Strong Island Animal Rescue League's Frankie Floridia has been furiously working since the weekend to help ameliorate a situation at a home in Rocky Point where investigators believe there are between 100 and 200 domestic rats.

In his volunteer work, the veteran animal rescuer has wrangled everything from raccoons, opossums, and wild kittens, to deer, a cow, a Bald eagle, a trio of Emus, and an Eurasian lynx.

But he might be facing his greatest challenge this weekend.

Last weekend, Floridia was given about 30 white rats that were seized by investigators from the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office's BEAST unit, which probes animal abuse and environmental cases, he said.

The DA's office did not comment.

The story unfolded last Saturday when a woman, whose name was provided to Patch, was arrested on misdemeanor charges after reportedly torturing and/or injuring an animal or failing to provide sustenance; she was also charged with two counts of neglect of an impounded animal, and child endangerment, online court records show.

In the charging instruments for her arrest, an officer recounted that the woman's three-year-old grandson lived in her home for several weeks in unsanitary conditions, and was seen in only a diaper, sitting and walking on the floor, which was covered in feces and urine.

The rats were seen freely walking around the house, on furniture, beds, walls, and counters, the officer wrote, then estimated that there were around 200 of them, along with a pungent odor.
Some of the rats were dead, and there was the stench of not only feces, but decay in the house, the officer charged.

The officer charged that the woman did not properly care for a rat, named "Splinter," who was missing one eye, and the other was severely injured — covered with dried blood and scab, possibly infected — and the animal was squinting to see out of it, "likely due to pain."

The officer also describes how "Splinter" was kept in a metal crate with four others in a bedroom, according to the charging instruments.

The crate's bars, and the floor, had feces, making it impossible for the animal to stand without touching feces, and there was no access to clean food or water, the document stated.

It also makes mention of the house being condemned because of the animal waste, and the injured rat later being moved to an animal hospital for treatment.

Town of Brookhaven officials did not have any information about the rats, but spokesman Drew Scott said they deemed the home uninhabitable, as part of a condemnation proceeding.

The rats have since been sent to a foster, who is caring for them, and they have been checked out medically.

The Strong Island organization on Sunday made a desperate plea for donations on social media, asking for emergency help because it did not have supplies to offer immediately, and pledged to purchase cages, bedding, and food for fosters willing to help.

"The rats in foster are adjusting very well," and the organization has received food, including the favorite food of pet rats — Cheerios — as well as bedding, blankets, and hide-outs they can snuggle in.

A little over $1,000 has been raised, but "it's not nearly enough," Floridia said.

Thursday evening, Floridia, who has yet to see inside the home, was given permission to go inside the house and make an assessment, before handling a coordinated mass rescue of the animals.

The organization has to assess how many are friendly, and how many might be feral, meaning they are wild and not used to human touch, and need to be handled with care.

But Strong Island is not going to be in charge of all the rats.

"I cannot handle that at my capacity," he said. "Strong Island is willing to wrangle and contain the rats, if other rescue groups step up."

However, it's not that kind of an operation, and it's a difficult one to boot, he said.

"I can definitely help with trapping the rats, but I am not going to sit here and say that I'm going to take them all, because once I say that, then I'm responsible, and I will not," he added.

The organization has been working on enlisting the aid of an experienced rat rescue group to help with the operation.

"We're getting the most that we can done," Floridia said. "We would like any rodent rescues, or anybody interested in adopting some rodents, to contact us."

After the assessment is complete, Floridia said he and volunteers will probably form a team and aim for the operation to take place on Monday, but if it's an emergent situation, they might do it over the weekend.

While Floridia was only given permission to go inside the home on Thursday night, he still does not have the key to the home from the Town of Brookhaven.

Investigators left food for the animals on the floor, and presumably, they have been surviving on that all week.

Floridia is hoping to find the animals alive.

"Let's not paint this picture as a negative one yet. Yeah, because I don't, I don't want to take full responsibility, and people start bashing that we haven't been there, or we haven't done anything, because this is my first opportunity," he said.

A dog, a female pitbull mix named "Coco," was also found in the home and was unable to stand or lay down without touching feces, and she also did not have access to clean food or water, according to the charging instruments.

There were masses on her body, her nails were overgrown, she appeared thin, and had not seen a veterinarian since 2020, the document states.

Scott said Brookhven officials took possession of one dog, which was taken to the municipality's animal shelter and adoption center in Brookhaven, according to Scott.

Patch has made attempts to reach the woman.

She is being represented by the Legal Aid Society, which does not comment on cases.

Suffolk County's Department of Health Services has issued a notice of violation requiring the cleanup at the home, a health department spokeswoman Grace McGovern-Kelly said Wednesday.

The homeowner of the home, which is located on Whitewood Drive, will be provided with educational materials along with the notice of violation, according to McGovern-Kelly.

The notice of violation comes after the Bureau of Public Health Protection was informed by District Attorney Ray Tierney's office that there was a possible sanitary code violation at the home, and health inspectors visited the exterior of the property — and, in accordance with the Suffolk County Sanitary Code, found violations, she said.

Normally, Floridia said he is a very positive person, but this time, he's concerned about the outcome of the rescue operation.

"I'm doing what I can, and I want to help," he said. "But I, I don't know if this is going to end well — there's a lot of rats."

There might be 200, there might be 300, Floridia explained, adding, that the homeowner is claiming there might be 100, but Floridia thinks that number may be closer to 200.

"I'll know more tomorrow," he said. "Now, I may not be able to place and take all these rats. They might be feral and running in the yard, or they might not be able to be caught. This might not end in a wonderful story, and I don't want it to fall on Strong Island like this is a failure. I'm going do what I can with the resources that I have.

"Most people are walking away, and I'm still the one that's going to go ahead and try," he said. "I'm not trying to tell you I'm going to save everyone, telling you that I'm going to save the saveable."

Some of the animals, which are highly intelligent, might be feral and might not want to be caught. If that is the case, rescuers will not be able to devote four or five weeks to catching them.

"So, at that point, I'm in a bad situation," he said. "I don't want to look foolish after this. I just want to say that we will do the best we can with what we have."

Earlier in the week, Floridia feared the authorities might call exterminators, and the thought lingers in his mind.

"I hope not," he said. "They may, though. Before we got permission, we were thinking that's what they were going to do. And now that we got the green light, we're excited, but we're still not sure."

Only time will tell, and in the meantime, Floridia, while not entirely positive, is honest.

"Strong Island is struggling, and always wanting to do the right thing," he said. "Strong Island will try their best to put this situation, this negative situation, into a positive [situation], but they're not quite sure of how it'll go."