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State Attorney's Office scurrying to eradicate rats

The rodents have plagued the courthouse for years, but the latest bunch appears to prefer the prosecutors.

By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published December 31, 2005

TAMPA - At first, they waited for nightfall to run the halls, scattering obscene clues of their existence in dark corners and rattling the ceilings each morning with a cacophony of thump-thump-thumps.

Now, an abundance of holiday sweets has buoyed their courage and their numbers.

Rats have invaded the Hillsborough state attorney's second-floor offices in the county courthouse annex.

One recent morning, State Attorney Mark Ober discovered the remains of his candy corn and a pile of rat poop atop his desk - to the glee of underlings who marveled that the rodents were equal opportunists.

"We can confirm we have rats, and they're not the little ones with cute pink ears. They're big, ugly and mean," Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said. "It's horrible."

They're as big as her size 8 foot, she said.

On Friday morning, two toothy furballs greeted staffers; one rat browsed the break room, and another scurried across a female staffer's desk.

It's not an infestation, staff members are quick to say, based on the visible population. But glue and snap traps have caught seven in the past three weeks.

Rats have plagued the courthouse off and on for years, longtime staffers said. But this latest crop seems to prefer the State Attorney's Office. No other area of the courthouse has reported a problem, according to the county.

The prosecutors' rats have been around for months. But they've been partying hard lately, assistant state attorneys said.

"I think the holidays made the problem worse, but people are keeping their food in the refrigerator. We try not to keep any food out," Bondi said.

It's unclear how many rats exist, but office workers think their numbers have grown.

Rats have become such a part of office life that the workers are getting used to the lingering smell of peanut butter, which is used to bait the rats.

"All you need is two; it doesn't take long," said Sherry Randall, who works in the office.

County facilities manager Doug Dennis said his team is fighting to trap the rats quickly. It even has the county's pest control contractor, Haskell Termite and Pest Control, on the job.

He blames the rat problem on the courthouse's constant state of renovation. During the past two years, new loading docks and carports have given rats plenty of new entries into the courthouse. County workers are trying to find and close the entries, "but we've had an awful lot of construction," Dennis said.

Plus, they can't poison the rats, which would end the crisis more quickly, because rats would die in the walls, stinking up the building.

So the rat extermination is slow going, Dennis said.

"Sometimes, I feel that these rats are smarter than we are," he said, "but we're working on it."

Jennifer Liberto can be reached at 813226-3403 or liberto@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 31, 2005, 00:47:16]