Modesto Man Suspected Of Living With Rats In Mobile Home

MODESTO (CBS13) - Neighbors suspect at least 100 rats are living right inside a Modesto mobile home, and the infestation has spread around the park.

The rat ruckus is at Westgate Village senior mobile home park, located off Carpenter road in southwest Modesto.

A neighbor who didn't want to appear on camera suspects the man who lived in the mobile home not only didn't mind living with the rodents, but even trained them.

"He was actually talking to them, trying to calm them down," Jane Haerle said.

Another neighbor also said the man welcomed the rats.

"He lived surrounded by them, in the house," she said. "My mother swears he opened the door and let them in when they scratched on the door like they were his little pets."

She snapped photos of rats resting in trees in what's usually a pristine mobile home park.

"They are tame," she said. "I took pictures of them. They just sat there and let me take pictures of them like they were unafraid of humans."

For the most part, the rats used to stay behind closed doors, but since the city deemed the home "unfit for occupancy," neighbors suspect the rats are becoming hungry and restless.

"You can only assume he was feeding them, and once their food source dried up they started searching looking for food," Haerle said.

The rats were only discovered after worried neighbors called for help over concerns that the stench from the mobile home was coming from the man's 89-year-old mother.

"There was a horrible smell emanating from the place and we thought perhaps she was dead inside," Haerle said.

The man's elderly mother is in a rest home. He was no where to be found on Thursday, and so neighbors believe the decaying smell is droves of rats dying inside the home.

"I'm sure there are dead rats," Haerle said. "They must die. Where do they go, the rat cemetery?"

In a statement, park management said "This has never happened before. We are doing everything in our power legally to rectify the situation as quickly as possible."

But a resident said the rats need to be cleared out right away.

"The longer they wait, the more chances rats have of getting out," John Hudson said.

According to a letter from the city, management has 10 days to get rid of the rats.