A tour of Latasha Pritchard’s newly rented home at 29th Street and Burleigh Street in Milwaukee includes a rat hole count. “This is a hole, this is my nursery,” she said Thursday as she carried WISN 12 News through the house. She had just started unpacking, she said, when the problem with small beady eyes showed up. “On my fourth day here I ran straight into a rat. Right here in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet. He just came from here and looked over there at me and kept going, this way. And the tail was just so long,” Pritchard said. The landlord set traps around the house, including poison and glue traps, which she told him only highlighted the problem. “I said, ‘Hey, these rats are on the traps. Mice are on the traps. Every trap I put there had something to it,'” she said. On Thursday morning, she heard her 2-year-old scream from the living room. “They’re like, ‘There’s rats in there! There’s rats in there!’ And I’m like, ‘What, what?’ And I’m looking in there and my other baby is stuck in the trap. Her foot is there with a big rat.” On Thursday afternoon, she told WISN 12 News that she couldn’t stay indoors. “It’s just too much. Today when my baby got stuck in that trap with that rat there, that was the end of it for me. I was just scared to death. I screamed. “The rat was still alive. Pritchard said the landlord assured her the house had been inspected to make sure the entry points for the rodents were sealed, but she said she found another hole after just a few minutes of searching. She said she recently learned the house had been vacant for two years before moving in three weeks ago.” I feel like I’m the rodent. Like I’m the person raping the house. They (the rats) lived here before I came. So, this is their house, okay? So I’m the one who – me I’m in their territory! So I have to get out of here. And my kids are scared,” she said. Pritchard said the landlord offered to put her up in a hotel for a few days while he tries again to reclaim the rodents. She doesn’t want to go back but is afraid of losing her bail. WISN 12 News called, texted, and emailed the landlord, but received no response.
MILWAUKEE —
A tour of Latasha Pritchard’s newly rented home at 29th Street and Burleigh Street in Milwaukee includes a rat hole count.
“This is a hole, this is my nursery,” she said Thursday as she carried WISN 12 News through the house.
She had just started unpacking, she said, when the problem with small beady eyes showed up.
“On my fourth day here I ran straight into a rat. Right here in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet. He just came from here and looked over there at me and kept going, this way. And the tail was just so long,” Pritchard said.
The landlord set traps around the house, including poison and glue traps, which she told him only highlighted the problem.
“I said, ‘Hey, these rats are on the traps. Mice are on the traps. Every trap I put there had something to it,'” she said.
On Thursday morning, she heard her 2-year-old screaming from the living room.
“They’re like, ‘There’s rats in there! There’s rats in there!’ And I’m like, ‘What, what?’ And I’m looking in there and my other baby is stuck in the trap. Her foot is there with a big rat.”
On Thursday afternoon, she told WISN 12 News that she couldn’t stay indoors.
“It’s just too much. Today when my baby got stuck in that trap with that rat there, that was the end of it for me. I was just scared to death. I screamed. They screamed and I’m grabbing my baby off that thing, her sock was still there,” she said.
The rat was still alive.
Pritchard said the landlord assured her the house had been inspected to make sure the entry points for the rodents were sealed, but she said she found another hole after just a few minutes of searching.
She said she recently learned the house had been vacant for two years before moving in three weeks ago.
“I feel like I’m the rodent. Like I’m the person raping the house. They (the rats) lived here before I came. So this is her house, okay? So I’m the one who – I’m in their territory! So I have to get out of here. And my kids are scared,” she said.
Pritchard said the landlord offered to put her in a hotel for a few days while he tries again to retake the house from the rodents. She doesn’t want to go back but is afraid of losing her bail.
WISN 12 News called, texted, and emailed the landlord, but received no response.
