San Francisco woman breeds rats, releases them in public parks [View all]
San Francisco Chronicle / 5-31-14
KTVUs David Stevenson reports that a troubled San Francisco woman has been breeding rats and letting them loose into the city for years.
Identified only as 43-year-old Erica J., the woman first came to the attention of the city in 2011 when Animal Care and Control discovered she had bred hundreds of rats out of her room at a Minna Street residential hotel in the South of Market neighborhood.
By the end of that May, public health officials had exterminated thousands of rats from the surrounding area.
Later, KTVU reported, Animal Care and Control reported finding Erica living under a Japantown pedestrian bridge with rats living off of her cart. Not surprisingly, several of the rats had escaped and infested the nearby area.
LINK: http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/05/30/s-f-at-loss-over-rat-girls-rodent-hoarding-video/
Sounds as if officials are powerless to stop her given unless certrain laws can be enacted. This is a serious public health issue.