'No Animal Should Be Living Like This,' Rescuer Says Of Many Friendly Domestic Rats Found In Rocky Point Home

ROCKY POINT, NY — As Frankie Floridia says as he and a team of about eight animal rescuers donning masks to breathe, walked inside of a Rocky Point home harboring hundreds of domestic rats, it looked like a bomb exploded.

Bags were ripped open by the rats, and food was strewn all over the floor.

Couches were turned over, and bundles of clothes and laundry were just dumped about the house.

But there was a hope in the friendly twitching of noses, and curious poses of the animals as they came out to see their visitors.

Others were immediately drawn to the water placed before them.

Still, it's not the worst the 20-year veteran animal rescuer has seen on Long Island.

"A lot of people ask me that," said Floridia of Strong Island Animal League. "I've seen some real bad stuff. So nothing is shocking to me anymore. It's not the worst. I've seen worse."

"But it's horrible to me that there's so many animals that need to be saved, and how difficult it is, and that's what disgusts me," he said. "So that's what makes it the worst. It's not just like there's 10 dogs, and they're living in filth, and I'll have them all out by the end of the night."

It's a different story.

And, it's a very difficult capture case. Not to mention the animals are difficult to rehome, unlike dogs and cats. People want to take dogs and cats. Even if it's a feral cat — they can be adopted as barn cats, and won't be left behind.

"With these, if they're in the walls, I have no choice," Floridia said.

The walls could be hiding more adults, including mothers and their babies, and unfortunately, there is little that Floridia can do because he does not have permission to "wreck the home's walls."

"I'm gonna do what I do best, and that is save lives," he said. "As of right now, I didn't even expect to have gotten 100 out today. I would have been cheering, 'Hooray.' I've got 200 out today. I've over-exceeded my expectations, and the team is just absolutely amazing."

Floridia, who has been orchestrating a rescue operation, since last week, said that the crew of volunteers worked from around 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to remove around 200 of the animals and also separated them into groups depending on their genders, and need for medical attention.

Those caught have mites in their ears and on their bodies, as well as fleas, and it's very likely that they have internal parasites. They ranged in age from full-grown adults to babies hanging out with their moms.

About 25 were taken for veterinary care, many of which had eye injuries from fighting, as well abscesses, some of which could be cancerous.

"We don't know the exact number, so you know it could be anywhere," said Floridia, on a break from the trapping operation on Monday night. "They're in the walls. They're in the washing machines. They're under the sinks. They're in the cabinets. So it could be anywhere from 300 to 600."

But it could be as much as 1,000, according to Floridia.

"It could be that much," he said. "I mean, as we're catching him, it's slowing down. I mean, we'll see tonight."

In video, Floridia can be seen picking the rats up by the tail and placing it in a carrier with ease, but that's not the case.

"It's very difficult my friend," he said, adding a laugh. "I'm grabbing them by their tails. I'm risking getting bit, but I'm still doing it."

"I'm not being a wise guy, but I don't think your average person is going to grab a full-size rat and be coordinated enough to open up a carrier and put it in the same swoop with one hand," he said. "I think we make it look easy, but if these weren't qualified animal rescuers ... I don't think my neighbor across the street would catch not a one."

He called it "amazing" that the group trapped more by lunchtime than what he thought they would have at all.

"But it's also very sad to see that they were living in these conditions, because no animal or person should be living like this," he added.

The story unfolded last week when a woman, who lives at the home, was charged with torturing and/or injuring an animal or failing to provide sustenance, two counts of neglect of an impounded animal, and child endangerment, all misdemeanors, online court records show.

She pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to the records.

In the charging instruments for her arrest, an officer recounted that her 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 documents stated.

Brookhaven Town officials have since deemed the home uninhabitable as part of a condemnation procedure, a spokesman said.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has also issued a notice of violation, and has informed the homeowner that the property must be cleaned up, according to a spokeswoman.

Regardless, he was happy with the way the operation went and had hopes the nighttime trapping might be just as successful, as well as the unmanned, human traps that will be set overnight.

"We'll catch a whole bunch of them tonight, and we'll go there in the morning, and a lot of our work will be done, really," he said.

So far the operation is moving smoothly, and Floridia credited the block's gracious neighbors, many of whom have offered food to give the volunteers some respite from their work.

Moving forward, he says the operation still needs transporters, adopters, and donations.

"All three of those things we are in need of big time," he added.

He's hoping some compassion will be shown to the rats because they "didn't ask to be in this position."

"They're friendly," he said. "They like to be clean, and they make great pets."