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Rats romp in shop
By: DIANE VALDEN 03/19/2007
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COPAKE-An infestation of rats at the closed down Copake General Store on Main Street at the corner of Church Street came to the attention of passersby last week and are quickly being exterminated at the owner's expense.


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Columbia County Department of Health Senior Public Health Technician Ed Coons first learned there might be a problem in the hamlet when he got a call late the afternoon of March 14 from a man who said he thought he saw two cats crossing the road.
When he got closer, the man realized the animals were not cats-but rats.
Mr. Coons headed out to investigate shortly after received a second call the following morning, this one from a woman, who believed she saw 100 rats on the lawn near the general store.
Copake Supervisor Angelo Valentino said he was made aware of the rats by Copake Highway Superintendent Larry Proper, who saw some rollicking rodents there the morning of March 15. Mr. Valentino said he then also called the health department.
As he pulled up to the store on the north side of the building, Mr. Coons said he saw some rats under the deck. As he got out of his vehicle and started walking around the building, he saw some hunks of an old cut up tree and some old junked store equipment, which the rats were running around, underneath and inside.
At one point, Mr. Coons stopped and watched the rats of various ages and sizes milling in and out of holes in the building's foundation. He tried to count them, but quit when he got to 40 because he wasn't sure whether he was counting the same rats again or new ones.
Mr. Coons said he did not have to wonder for very long why this rat colony had set up shop in this place at this time because when he went up on the front porch and looked through the store's front window, he saw remnants of food wrappers from bread, cereal, cookies, candy and cakes strewn about the floor and rat fecal matter all over the place.
"I've been at this job for eight years and things never cease to amaze me," said Mr. Valentino, who declared the situation a health emergency and hired Cat's Eye Pest Control to get rid of the rodents.
The name of the property owner as it appears on the deed is Sudhir Sood. The store was sold to Mr. Sood in 2004, according to town assessment records, though the property tax bill is sent to the Copake Country General Store at an address on Stottville Road in Hudson.
A representative of Mr. Sood's was reached and brought a key to let officials and pest control personnel into the store on Thursday, March 15. "He was very cooperative," said the supervisor.
"But even if someone had not opened the door, we were going in there," said Mr. Valentino, who only took a couple of steps inside the front door, but said he could tell the place was "saturated with rats, nesting and eating food.
"He just locked the door one day and walked away" leaving all kinds of food on the shelves, said the supervisor.
Mr. Coons said he contacted someone at the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, which had licensed the store. He said he was told that the owner had abandoned the store in November.
The store has also been without electricity for sometime and in light of "the cold temperatures we have had, I told the guy not to let anybody eat any of that canned food, which had been frozen and thawed," said Mr. Coons, who was told that by the man with the store key that the store's supplier had been notified to see what food items he could get credit for.
"Life was good" for those rats, said Mr. Coons, who characterized the size of the colony as "manageable."
Cat's Eye Pest Control Manager Nick Brooks told The Independent yesterday that his firm "is working with Copake and the Columbia County Health Department at this location. We have a very aggressive program in place to resolve the problem."
Mr. Coons said the exterminators are using rodenticide biscuits in covered bait stations.
The stations have holes for the rats to enter, eat the biscuit, then leave. He said other animals can't get in. Dead rats found in and around the building will be disposed of by the exterminator.
Mr. Coons said he will make follow-up visits to the store and said that by Friday, visible rat activity was already diminished.
Mr. Valentino estimated the cost for the extermination service at $500 to $1,000 and said the property owner is going to "pay the bill."
Mr. Sood could not be reached for comment. The phone number listed for Mr. Sood in Copake is "not in service," according to a recorded telephone company message.
A message requesting comment on the rat situation was left on the voice mail of someone associated with Mr. Sood, but no return call was received.
Ironically, it was just a few years ago that the Copake hamlet was overrun with feral cats, which prompted much public outcry and eventually spawned a local cat control law. Many of the rogue cats were living in the area behind the general store.