Hundreds of residents of the Hattersley council estate in the UK say their homes are crawling with hundreds, if not thousands, of rats -- some the size of cats or small dogs. But their 'landlords' are telling them to just deal with it.
One's home should be the ultimate space of safety and comfort; the place that you come home to every night, wake up every morning, where you spend time with your family and precious pets, cooking meals and watching movies, cultivating hobbies and simply navigating life.
More recently, people's homes have been their safe haven where they can avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus. Homes have turned into non-stop offices, schools, movie theaters, and restaurants. Now more than ever, our homes are precious places.
That's why the situation in this Greater Manchester housing estate, an affordable housing complex built in the 1960s, is so devastating.
Sign the petition demanding that Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (Tameside MBC), which is responsible for the upkeep of Hattersley, address the overwhelming rat infestation for the safety and health of its residents!
The purpose of this petition is not to alert Tameside MBC to the plight of their tenants -- in fact, the council is well aware of the hellish conditions on its estate. They simply refuse to do anything while people in Hattersley lose sleep, food, sentimental objects, and more to these hoard of rats. The council has told all of the residents that have pled for help to pay for individual exterminators themselves, each visit going for about £80, or $110.
One resident named Dylan posted in a Facebook group for the estate when he noticed a couple of rats in his backyard. Within one hour, hundreds of other Hattersley folks responded with similar -- or far more horrifying -- stories. The entire estate, housing nearly 6,000 people including many children, is overrun with rodents. And some of the sitings were of rats that are the size of cats.
Rats are famously vectors for diseases that can transfer to humans. Ignoring this problem and allowing it to grow out of control during a pandemic that started in animals and transferred to humans is deplorable. A rat bite could make you really sick -- that goes for your sweet family dog or cat, too. One can also fall ill by accidentally ingesting rat urine or feces, which is bound to be everywhere if you have a rat infestation, especially around the food in your cupboards that the rodents love so much.
Rats often chew through whatever is in front of them; when they live in the walls of residential homes, that means wires. One spark from a rat-severed wire could mean the entire complex of home could go up in flames.
One resident with two children of her own said the rats are living in her floorboards and attic -- the latter is where they found and destroyed some of her family's most sentimental, irreplaceable items.
Not only is telling residents to get exterminators themselves a faulty solution, since the rat infestation covers the entire estate and removing those from one house will do nothing but creating an opening for more rats. It is also completely unjust. The council has a responsibility to maintain livable conditions for its tenants -- many of which are lower income families and need the subsidized housing the estate offers. They cannot afford costly exterminators, just for the problem to come back in a week; nor can they afford to replace all the items and food destroyed by the horrific infestation.
Sign the petition and demand that Tameside MBC take care of its residents, and address this giant rat infestation!
