A Villager is complaining that the recent demolition of the El Santiago Club restaurant sent rats looking for a new home.
Linda Clark, who moved to The Villages two years ago, lives near the site of the new El Santiago Recreation Center.
She told the Community Development District 2 Board on Friday morning that rats have started appearing in her home and her neighbors’ homes.
“I went around the neighborhood and asked if they had this problems in the past. They said never in 18 years has this problem existed,” Clark said.
She said she has had several professional exterminators at her house and has set up traps, but the rats continue to invade her home.
District Property Manager Sam Wartinbee admitted there is a rat problem in The Villages.
“I have gotten more calls about this in the past three weeks than in the past three years,” Wartinbee said.
He said with all of the recent rain, rats have been driven from their homes.
He said baited traps have been set on District property. The District cannot put traps on private property.
He advised homeowners to take common sense steps like getting rid of or emptying bird feeders.
“Those can look like buffet to the rats,” he said.
CDD 2 Chairman John Blum recommended that she contact Sumter County Animal Control.
