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Rats! Scores of rats found burrowing around Fenway apartments – Metro US

Rats! Scores of rats found burrowing around Fenway apartments

Calling the scene “horrific,” city inspectors issued violation notices at two buildings in the Fenway neighborhood this afternoon where officials found scores of rats in one of the worst infestations they’ve seen in years.

“It’s pretty horrific,” said ISD Director of Environmental Services John Meaney, adding that he’s been working in the business for about 30 years.

Meaney said that inspectors received some complaints about the property and when inspectors responded they found “40 to 50 rats at any given point” hording together.

The buildings on Hemenway and Haviland streets are located in the Fenway neighborhood, close to the Berklee College of Music and Northeastern University. The neighborhood in heavily populated with students attending schools around the city.

Mayor Thomas Menino showed up at the building on Hemenway Street this afternoon. He said he was “outraged.”

“We don’t tolerate this in the city of Boston,” Menino said.

Meaney said he was in contact with both of the property management companies and tried to get a solution worked out. The Hemenway Street property was the site of a rat infestation a few months ago that had to involve city inspectors, he said. That time an exterminator was called, but there seems to be a lapse in communication to fix the problem, he said today.

“Weve got a couple of thousand students coming here in a couple of weeks and that’s unacceptable,” Meaney said.

Nicole Wright, a student at Berklee who has lived in the building the past three years said she was surprised that the rat problem was so bad there. However, she said she has seen mice run around her apartment.

“That’s pretty disgusting,” she said.

Earlier this month Metro reported on Somerville’s efforts to control the city’s rat population there.

A woman who answered the phone at Fenway Residential Property, which manages the Hemenway Street building, said the company was not commenting. Attempts to reach the manager of the Haviland Street building were not successful.