TORRINGTON, Conn. — Torrington residents in the area of the former Torrington Company building said large rats are taking over their streets and homes.
“They look like New York City rats, like sewer rats,” said Soskia Brown-Cox, who lives on Jardon Street in Torrington.
Brown-Cox’s neighbor across the street, Samantha Wilson, said the rats are “the size of a baked potato.”
These residents are looking to evict the rodents that have moved in without warning.
“They’ll come wherever they can, they can get through any small hole,” said Jonathan Rich, a resident of nearby Millard Street.
Those dealing with the rat invasion said they think the recent demolition of the former Torrington Company factory is what’s causing the problem.
“Now we have rats and I think because of the building being taken down down the road. A lot of my neighbors down the road, a lot of them have had rat issues now which we’ve never had issues like this before,” Wilson said.
The rats have chewed their way through Wilson’s garage, tearing holes in the walls and leaving piles of feces.
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“It makes me want to move,” Wilson said. “We have two traps out, we’ve been catching two every night now for the past two to three weeks, we’ve gotten like 23 now so far is our total.”
Across the street, the rats have made their way inside the house.
“I own a daycare here so it’s been terrible. I’ve had to throw most of the stuff I had downstairs in the daycare away,” Brown-Cox said. “They’re eating my shoes and the stuff I just bought for my kids."
Residents called town officials and were told help would be on its way later this week, though exact details were unclear.
The hope is that assistance will arrive before the rats multiply.
“Fix the issue. I know it’s a good thing to take the building down, it’ll make the town look pretty but at the end of the day it does hurt other people in the community, too,” Brown-Cox said.
“Definitely need to remediate and just provide some guidance to all the residents as to what’s going on and to look into that because no one wants to see or have rats in their home,” said Jennifer Lent, a resident of neighboring McGuinness Street.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment on the rat issue.
Kaelee Collins is a multimedia journalist for FOX61 News. She can be reached at kcollins@fox61.com. Follow her on X, and Instagram.
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