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THE OLYMPIAN (Olympia, Washington) 10 April 08 Hundreds of rats, 4 snakes found in 1 house - Rochester house in bad shape; animal care charge likely (Jeremy Pawloski)
Rochester: A woman lives with hundreds of rats that roam freely in her Sargent Road home and are chewing holes through her walls, Thurston County Animal Services director Susanne Beauregard said.
Animal Control officers used a search warrant Tuesday to enter the woman's home and seized four malnourished snakes in cages — two boa constrictors, a corn snake and a king snake.
The officers said the floors are covered in rat feces, and the carpets are soggy with rat urine.
"I wouldn't go in there without a hazmat suit and a respirator," Beauregard said.
Animal Services officials learned of the infestation about a month ago, when an Area Agency on Aging official contacted them about the conditions in the home, Beauregard said.
Since then, officials with Thurston County Animal Control and other social service agencies have been trying to get the woman help, but she has not been cooperative, Beauregard added.
Officials think the woman purchased rats to feed her boa constrictors, but some got loose and they began to reproduce. The rats' steady reproduction cycle has led to the infestation, officials said.
The woman at the home is unconcerned and calls the rats "her friends," Beauregard said.
Animal Control officer Erika Ellenbecker said that when she entered the home about a month ago, she saw at least 50 rats, and she could hear others chewing through the walls.
The two boa constrictors are not in good health — one's teeth have rotted out — and they are recovering with a veterinarian on Steamboat Island, Beauregard said. The other two snakes are in better health and are recovering at Thurston County Animal Services' shelter, she said.
Beauregard said Animal Control officers will recommend that prosecutors charge the woman with failure to provide humane care because of the malnourished snake.
Thurston County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Debra Eurich, who handles alleged animal-abuse cases, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon.
Beauregard said she and other social service providers do not want to punish the woman but hope to see she gets the help she needs.
It was unclear Wednesday what will become of the rats that remain in the home. Beauregard said Animal Control has been in contact with code-enforcement officials. Thurston County Chief Criminal Deputy James Chamberlain said his office is not handling the situation but that if it were, the matter would be referred the health department to determine whether the woman's home is fit for human habitation and whether there are any health or safety violations.
Neighbor Alicia Oleachea said Wednesday that about a month ago, a white rat died on her lawn. She said another neighbor distributed a letter to all the other neighbors spreading the word that rats had escaped from the woman's home.
"Other neighbors apparently have seen them, too," Oleachea said.
Hundreds of rats, 4 snakes found in 1 house

POST-INTELLIGENCER (Seattle, Washington) 11 April 08 Woman to leave home full of rat 'friends'
Rochester: A reclusive, independent woman whose home has been ruined by hundreds of rats she calls "friends" has agreed to move into an assisted living center, and officials were scurrying to find one for her Friday.
Michelle Diller, 64, who had rebuffed efforts to help her by a wide range of agencies, changed her mind to regain possession of her cat, which was confiscated along with 11 caged animals -- four severely malnourished snakes, five mice and two rats -- Susanne Beauregard, Thurston County animal services director, said Friday.
"I told her I would let her have her cat back if she agreed to move," a relieved Beauregard told The Associated Press.
Diller told KOMO Television late Thursday she was ready to leave, but as of midday Friday she was still in the house and Beauregard still had the cat as agencies sought alternative housing and considered what to do about the rats, which have begun turning up in neighbors' yards on the outskirts of this southeast Thurston County town.
"Initially she was saying, 'You can't hurt them, they're my friends,'" Beauregard said.
"I don't have a problem with any animal," Dillard told the Seattle TV station.
Unlike the snakes, which were on the verge of death from starvation and hypochondria when they were taken to a veterinarian for recovery efforts Wednesday, the cat was plump and in good health except for a runny nose and eyes because of ammonia from the overpowering stench of rat urine and feces throughout the house, Beauregard said.
The county is likely to charge Dillard with animal cruelty over the treatment of the snakes, two boa constrictors, a corn snake and a king snake, "if that's the only way to assure that she gets a mental heath evaluation," the animal control director added.
The rats, apparently the progeny of a few that escaped after Diller bought them as food for the snakes, have gnawed through wiring, walls, cupboards and drawers, "so there's no lights or heat or sewage" disposal, Beauregard said.
She said Diller came to the attention of authorities through a concerned official from the Area Agency on Aging.
"It was known that she wasn't normal and that there were difficulties," but when authorities went to the house she was uncooperative and uncommunicative "so they had no way of knowing how bad things were," Beauregard said.
A neighbor, Alicia Oleachea, told The Olympian newspaper a white rat died on her lawn about a month ago, and another neighbor distributed a letter in the area with word that rats were escaping from the home.
Last month an animal services officer, Erika Ellenbecker, managed to talked her way inside and found the floor covered with rat droppings and the carpets squishy with urine.
"When my officer went in there, she could hardly breathe, Beauregard said.
For a time, she said, "we were hoping that perhaps she would let us help her with the snakes, but she wouldn't," Beauregard said.
Other pressing cases also preoccupied Beauregard and her staff until Wednesday, when a search warrant was served by her, Ellenbecker and personnel from the sheriff's and prosecutor's offices, each equipped with hazardous materials protective wear and a breathing apparatus.
"I wouldn't go in there without a hazmat suit and a respirator," Beauregard told The Olympian.
Rats ranging from white laboratory-type rodents to red Norway rats, apparently the result of interbreeding between wild and domesticated animals, were everywhere and could be heard scurrying and gnawing inside the walls.
Cupboards and walls were riddled with rat holes and the bottoms had been chewed out of all the drawers. The refrigerator was on, but otherwise the electricity seemed to be "very spotty. Nothing else worked," she said.
"The house needs to be razed and rebuilt," Beauregard said.
"This is going to be a big problem. These are not little rats. These are big rats ... maybe two pounds," she said. "They are not afraid of people. They'll come right up to you."
Diller apparently moved to Rochester from somewhere in California four or five years ago. She seems to have no friends in the area and her only known relative is a brother, also at an undetermined location in California, Beauregard said.
"She has no support system at all," Beauregard said.
Woman to leave home full of rat 'friends'