What to Know
- Residents living on Howland Street in Philly's Lawncrest neighborhood say rats have invaded their street.
- The neighbors say they first started noticing the rats about two months ago but the problem has gotten worse over the past few weeks.
- The Philadelphia Health Department is trying to use bait traps to stop the rats.
Residents of a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood are literally screaming for help after rats took over their street.
“Medium ones, big ones, diving under cars, running down the street,” Antoinette Bethel-Danzy told NBC10. “They just out here like they run the block.”
Neighbors living on Howland Street in Philly’s Lawncrest neighborhood said they first started seeing the rats about two months ago, but the issue has gotten even worse in the last few weeks. One woman said she’s killed more than 10 of them herself using poison.
“They are huge,” Damaris Rivera, who was startled by one of the rats as she watered her garden, said. “They look like cats to me. I’m not exaggerating.”
The residents said it’s not just a nuisance but an actual health hazard. Many of them won’t let their children outside.
“Broad daylight, they just sit on the steps,” Bethel-Danzy said. “I’m recording them and everything. They just invite themselves to barbecues. It’s just a mess.”
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Members of the Philadelphia Health Department visited the street Tuesday and placed down bait traps, the health department told NBC10.
“We need ya’ll to come and fix it,” Bethel-Danzy said. “Because we have no idea what to do with these rats.”
Health department workers could be seen checking the bait traps Friday. The health department said that baiting isn't an immediate fix and it could take a while to alleviate the issue.
