"Scal[ing] fences with the dexterity of a mountain climber," rats have all but taken over SoMa and North Beach. No, not really. But close. As construction proceeds on the $1.578 billion Central Subway project, vermin still post a problem in the city's South of Market area.
The problem seems to be happened around 4th and Harrison, especially. Rolando Hernandez, who works in SoMa, told ABC 7: "I used to see once in a while, now it's got a lot worse, like to the other night I must have seen 50...I kid you not, they were just coming out of these garbage cans, like it was nuts, it was like a waterfall full of rats."
Here at SFist headquarters in SoMa near South Park, I have personally seen rats scurry across the street, but typically at night, now more than ever before.
Of the 26 diseases rats can carry, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Salmonella is one of them — bubonic plague and the Hantavirus, too.
As for what San Francisco is doing about the infestation, they're taking care of the situation when rat homes are found on city property. OABC 7 continues:
When rats are found on city property, exterminators come out to take care of them. When rats are found private property, it is the owners who are told to fix the problem.But when they are scared from their homes, they just move on to the next good spot.
The department of health says that people may be responsible for many rat infestations. He says leaving food out of garbage cans and throwing bread for birds is like opening a buffet for a rats.
Gulp.
