Rats in Westchester County: North Castle homeowner frustrated by rodent infestation in neighborhood

NORTH CASTLE, New York (WABC) — A North Castle homeowner is fed up with a rat infestation that has infested her property and the neighborhood.

Holly Mottola spoke to Eyewitness News about how her backyard is now full of bat stations and traps. She also confirmed the horrific number of rat carcasses she has found.

“We caught about 16 in one night,” Mottola said.

Mottola says she has spent over $1,000 trying to contain the infestation, which began a month ago. Her home is adjacent to a gas station, where a recent video showed rats fleeing when the fence was kicked in.

“I tried to notify the gas station owner,” she said. “Two days later, I went there to talk to him, but I couldn’t reach him.”

Mottola says the rodents have built tunnels onto her property, but the gas station’s owner, Asif Muhammad, stressed he keeps the area clean.

“We’ve taken care of everything,” Muhammad said. “These guys come every week. That’s the best thing we can do. You can’t just eliminate them in one day.”

Muhammad admitted that he also works with an exterminator and blamed the restaurant that just opened next to his station for the increase in the rodent population.

Neighbors doubt that the restaurant is the source.

“I just want everything to be maintained so we can use our properties again because it affects all neighbors, not just me, but the whole neighborhood,” Mottola said.

The Westchester County Health Department conducted an unannounced inspection on Wednesday and said it was monitoring the situation to see if containment measures were having an effect.

READ MORE: The ‘Rat Pack’: NYC recruits a new group of anti-rodent activists to help with the city’s containment efforts

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