Infant Found Dead In Crib With 100 Small Animal Bites

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wandering said:
I have read of rats attacking a baby in the past. I think the odor of formula or whatever attracts them. This is horrible. Unspeakable. There had to be more than one rat, and the parents had to have ignored the baby's crying, if in fact that was the cause of the death.
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Or maybe the rat suffocated the baby first because it smelled the milk. I have heard of cats doing this. I think sewer rats are like gopher rats.
 
Unimaginable ... RIP Baby Natalie
 
lizzybeth said:
The father says "I did know they had a rat problem". I misread it the first time too.

I think (and I'm not blaming the parents) that I would have had my children in bed with me if I knew there were rats. I have a feeling since they didn't hear the baby crying out that she may have already been deceased when the rats got to her (sorry, I know that sounds horrible, but it is horrible). Natalie looks a little malnourished in the picture that was in the link. Possibly she had some other problems. Maybe ones that even the parents weren't aware of.

RIP Natalie.
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The pic is grainy but I didn't think she looked that healthy in the picture either. I would like to know if there has been any previous CPS involvement. If this was something they couldn't have known how to prevent, just like a fire or something that could be caused by structural damage, why was their baby removed? They left the house so the other one is not at risk, unless there is more to this story??
RIP Natalie.
 
Poor baby. If I understand correctly autopsy results are not yet in. I'm going to wait for those results before believing anything bad about the parents. As a child we lived in a few places with bad vermin infestations and I know it didn't make my parents bad people. We just couldn't afford to live any place better. We rented and were at the mercy of the landlords to resolve the problems. Things were different back then though. Now we have government services that investigate these types of problems. From the sound of it this couple did try to remedy the problem with traps and poisons.

I also don't see a sickly baby when I look at her picture. Some children, even babies, are just naturally thin.

There could be more to this story, but I just can't form an opinion until the autopsy comes back.
 
Brwnigirl said:
The pic is grainy but I didn't think she looked that healthy in the picture either. I would like to know if there has been any previous CPS involvement. If this was something they couldn't have known how to prevent, just like a fire or something that could be caused by structural damage, why was their baby removed? They left the house so the other one is not at risk, unless there is more to this story??
RIP Natalie.
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I think if there were previous CPS involvement we would know already. News reporters love to dig up stuff like that and certainly would have been reported right along with the initial news of this baby's demise.
 
Rats can actually come up out of toilets? That's just about the creepiest thing I have ever heard. Makes me want to always keep the lid down. Under what conditions would this happen, does anyone know?
 
hannahsnana said:
Rats can actually come up out of toilets? That's just about the creepiest thing I have ever heard. Makes me want to always keep the lid down. Under what conditions would this happen, does anyone know?
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Yes they can. Especially if you live in an older building, like all the ones for rent in the city I live in. The pipes are old, full of holes, and water levels are low. It is horrifying!!! If you ever find you have a rodent issue, get your own exterminator or buy good poison online. (I lived in one apartment that was over taken by rodents, the landlord just gave us glue traps, not a good idea. I moved, but had to throw everything away, including my bed!!!) Do It Yourself Pest Control is a good online site, order arrives in 2 days. Just be sure to keep it away from pets and children or ponds. Well, you can read the labels, lol!
 
shana said:
Another article on this horrible story:

http://stopcorruptdss.wordpress.com...old-daughter-covered-in-rat-bites-found-dead/

See the link for a video: Rat-bitten baby's mother tells her story
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Mayor John Shaddinger said the city already has contacted Jefferson Parish’s Environmental Affairs Department to get help on assessing the neighborhood for rodents. In addition, the city next week plans to place rodent pellets and traps, and its code enforcement officers and firefighters will go door to door on Keller Avenue, Central Avenue and West Drive offering free rat poison to residents. Residents will have to sign a release to receive the poison.

So, it took a death to cause this action? Shame on them.

 
21merc7 said:
Yes they can. Especially if you live in an older building, like all the ones for rent in the city I live in. The pipes are old, full of holes, and water levels are low. It is horrifying!!! If you ever find you have a rodent issue, get your own exterminator or buy good poison online. (I lived in one apartment that was over taken by rodents, the landlord just gave us glue traps, not a good idea. I moved, but had to throw everything away, including my bed!!!) Do It Yourself Pest Control is a good online site, order arrives in 2 days. Just be sure to keep it away from pets and children or ponds. Well, you can read the labels, lol!
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Yep. Glue traps leave you with a live screaming rodent...
 
hannahsnana said:
Rats can actually come up out of toilets? That's just about the creepiest thing I have ever heard. Makes me want to always keep the lid down. Under what conditions would this happen, does anyone know?
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They don't. They climb into the toilet for water, after they've eaten poison.
 
Read the article again. Rats can and do crawl through sewer lines into toilets in single story houses on foundations where the sewer lines run horizontally with only a slight gradient for flow. Rats can and do crawl through toilet pipes, they aren't 2 inch pipes as the article suggests.

This neighborhood had rats coming out of the sewers, it is just a hop, skip and jump from sewer line to toilet. I am not saying this is how this rat got into the house, but it is certainly possible. More than likely it just chewed through a wall or ceiling.

The autopsy report is not completed, no cause of death yet.

Being poor and at the mercy of a crappy landlord is not a crime.
 
DotsEyes said:
Read the article again. Rats can and do crawl through sewer lines into toilets in single story houses on foundations where the sewer lines run horizontally with only a slight gradient for flow. Rats can and do crawl through toilet pipes, they aren't 2 inch pipes as the article suggests.

This neighborhood had rats coming out of the sewers, it is just a hop, skip and jump from sewer line to toilet. I am not saying this is how this rat got into the house, but it is certainly possible. More than likely it just chewed through a wall or ceiling.

The autopsy report is not completed, no cause of death yet.

Being poor and at the mercy of a crappy landlord is not a crime.
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Daresay, even if they were 2" pipes, rats can flatten-down and get thru the tiniest of openings.

So true, that hop/skip/jump. Rats are highly opportunistic and have the anatomy to get in the most unlikeliest of places to find food or to breed.

ITA, anything is possible but it is more likely that the rats chewed thru a structural area, perhaps thru one of those broken drywall areas that the father in this case had tried repairing to the best of his ability.

Having lived thru a few infestations in my own home :::shudder:::, I am thinking that the little one may have passed before the rat(s) fed upon the body (pains me to type that). Autopsy report expected this week will be key.

Abatement is hard enough for one's own home and costly too, let alone if the county/city does not step-in to help...it's almost futile!

Adding to another post above: Yes, warfarin makes rats run for water...usually away from the bait site. We use traps here and whether they are spring-loaded or glue types, the result is the same. You have to wait until the rat dies or kill it yourself once trapped. Me, I can't handle ANY of this.
 
shana said:
Adding to another post above: Yes, warfarin makes rats run for water...usually away from the bait site. We use traps here and whether they are spring-loaded or glue types, the result is the same. You have to wait until the rat dies or kill it yourself once trapped. Me, I can't handle ANY of this.
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Just a quick FYI for you, there is poison now that does not make them thirsty. What it does is not pleasant, but you will never need to know unless you look it up. No screaming rodents, no smelly bodies, no hunting for water.

This poor baby. I just cannot imagine.
 
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534432,00.html?test=latestnews
Report: Louisiana Baby With 100 Small Rat Bites Bled to Death

The cause of death was preliminary and more tests were planned, said Elizabeth Evans, an investigator for the Jefferson Parish coroner's office.

The chief said the autopsy results "tell us what we had suspected already."

"We were all hoping that we were wrong. It's just horrifying to think of the baby being bitten and all this trauma happening while she was alive," he said.

Investigators are awaiting the results of drug and alcohol tests that the parents submitted to last week, the chief said.

"It's just to make sure we cover all the bases," Munch said of the tests. "If we find neglect, we'll pursue charges ... It's too early to tell right now."
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This makes me so mad. she had to be screaming in pain. How could they not hear her? How could they not go to her aid?
 
I was withholding judgment in this case until the COD came in because I live in Louisiana and am well aware of the number of people who live far below the poverty line in unbelievably squalid conditions simply because their only alternative would be to live in the street. I could tell you horror stories of the home conditions of clients my non-profit agency served, but that's another topic. But I had really thought this might have been a SIDS case gone awry, with the baby dying during that 4.5 hour period after her last feeding, and that the smell of death attracted the rats. But we see that's not true. A baby being eaten alive and exsanguinated by rats would scream her little lungs out at the beginning of the attack. I cannot understand under what circumstances two parents could not hear her desperate cries, unless they were passed out drunk or from drugs. I'm not alleging that, but how could they not have heard the baby's screams? i don't want to heap further pain on these parents, but something is amiss. Thank goodness they removed the toddler from the home.

FYI - New Orleans has a terrible rodent and cockroach problem. When I lived on St. Andrew St. in the Lower Garden District, entire blocks of residents had to coordinate their extermination efforts or the vermin simply moved a couple houses or apartments down. We were not that far from the Mississippi River and the rats were huge! Bigger than housecats in some cases. So I am not necessarily faulting these folks for having the rat problem, but for not protecting their little baby from them.
 
OMG, I wish I had not checked for updates. I too hoped it was SIDS related. :(
 
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