SMITHFIELD (AP) — Residents of one Smithfield neighborhood say they’re being overrun by rats from a nearby pig farm, but the farmer tells town officials he’s addressing the problem.
Andrew Landry said he has cellphone videos that show dozens of rats fleeing his mother’s chicken coop. He said rats are chewing through plastic water lines, insulation and walls and threaten his mother’s radiant heating system and entering homes through clothes dryer vents.
The town’s code enforcement officer, Andy Marble, told the Morning Sentinel (http://bit.ly/192TZbE ) that farmer Nelson Mitchell is putting out poison and trying to keep his farm cleaner. He keeps 20 to 30 pigs. Mitchell has refused comment.
Marble says if the rats continue to be a problem the town can have the property cleaned at the farmer’s expense, or go to court.
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