Video, photographs and emails about rats running through hallways, jumping out of a pantry and even getting caught inside a photocopy machine graphically illustrate the rodent problem at a southeast Atlanta elementary school earlier this fall, Channel 2 Action News reports.
A hallway surveillance camera at Thomasville Heights Elementary School captured the image of a rat scurrying through a hallway late one night in late October.
An email from August tells of a school employee calling her supervisor, crying uncontrollably after “a very large field mouse had jumped on top of her when she entered the pantry this morning.”
Another email, written in February, tells of rodents so big, school workers “will need a large trap. The visual size of the rodent is similar to a wood rat.”
And one photo shows a rat jammed between the rollers of a copy machine. The animal did not survive.
In a letter to parents earlier this fall, Thomasville Heights Principal Charles Penn said an exterminator had been hired to deal with the rodents.
The rats were believed to be living beneath the buildings foundation. One parent said they looked so big, they appeared to be the size of rabbits.
An Atlanta Public Schools spokesperson told Channel 2 that there have been no signs of rodents in the past month, but staff continues to check regularly.
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