The issue can be surmised in a word, said Carol Termine of Bensalem.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is infestation,\u201d she said. So severe is the problem, she told Bensalem Township officials, there once were 40 to 60 rats outside her home on Corsair Court in the township\u2019s Neshaminy Valley neighborhood.<\/p>\n
At a recent council meeting, Termine and other residents pleaded for help with what they see as a rat invasion that began after sewer pipes were replaced and left open on Pasqualone Boulevard a year ago. Subsurface construction can disturb rat nesting areas and send the rodents scampering, she was told.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was told to me by the Board of Health,\u201d said Termine.<\/p>\n
Today, the Bucks County Health Department says it is investigating numerous reports of rat sightings in parts of the municipality, and township officials say Disease Vector regulations require property owners exterminate rats on their property. Residents must maintain premises free of conditions that \u201cprovide harborage (shelter, food or water) for rodents,\u201d according to township officials. To that end, the township released a list of precautions that should be taken by property owners.<\/p>\n
Along with Termine\u2019s comments at the recent public meeting, Williamson Court resident Mark Cooper told council members the rodent issue is costly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes money out of our pockets,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not right; we shouldn\u2019t have to deal with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper said contractors working on the sewer line project should be held financially responsible for extermination of the rat infestation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay our taxes; we expect service,\u201d he told council members. \u201cIf we don\u2019t get service, you guys are out of a job and we\u2019ll get someone else to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Council President Edward Tokmajian Jr. said steps have been taken to address the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding and Planning has visited the area,\u201d he said. \u201cThe township is working with the Board of Health to detect areas where rats could be nesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the meeting, Raymond Buckley, vector control program coordinator, Bucks County Health Department, said residents can take advantage of the county\u2019s complaint process that will initiate an investigation with rodent identification is provided by the complainant.<\/p>\n
Regulations require property owners maintain premises free of conditions that provide harborage for rodents, according to officials. Maintaining conditions include\u201d stop feeding birds and other wildlife, even if not a problem in the past; store firewood and building material at least 18 inches above ground and 12 inches from structures; clean up pet feces daily (a food source for rats), bag pet feces tightly and dispose of it via regular trash disposal in tightly covered container; store dog food, bird seed, organic and other matter in sturdy, rodent proof containers; remove pet food and water bowls after use and do not leave outdoors overnight, and consider gardens to be an easy food source for rats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The issue can be surmised in a word, said Carol Termine of Bensalem. \u201cIt is infestation,\u201d she said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[191,193,114129,192,194],"class_list":["post-271006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bensalem","tag-bensalem","tag-bensalem-headlines","tag-bensalem-neighborhood-complains-of-rat-infestation","tag-bensalem-news","tag-bensalem-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}