Feb 7, 2022Updated: Feb 9, 2022 11:35 am
San Francisco City Hall.
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LATEST Feb 9, 12:15 pm San Francisco Animal Care & Control confirmed to SFGATE that the rats at the Hellen Diller Civic Center Playground appear to be domesticated rats which have been illegally dumped on the premises. They’re now conducting an investigation and will humanely capture and rehouse them.
Feb 8, 12:20 p.m Just a block away from San Francisco’s City Hall on the corner of Larkin and Grove St., children play at the Helen Diller Civic Center Playground: a park that provides open space for families living in the close quarters of the Tenderloin, Western Addition, Hayes Valley and South of Market neighborhoods. But lately, the popular playground has been getting some unusual visitors: rats.
“We saw a big, white, rat. Came out twice to look at us. It was about 8 inches long, albino white, and pink nose,” Oakland resident Chad Avellai told ABC7.
The white rat had company. More rodents have been spotted at the Civic Center playground in the late afternoon, while two more were seen under a set of chairs Sunday night. Several more were seen on Friday, including a rat that scurried under a slide that was being used, ABC7 reported.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health says on its website that a rat running across an open space is usually the first sign of an infestation. However, it’s still unclear if traps have been set or if the city has any other plans to get rid of the rats.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that, worldwide, rats and mice can transmit up to 35 diseases both directly and indirectly. Common, milder infections include salmonella and tularemia, but one of the more severe illnesses, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, can be transmitted through rat droppings, urine, saliva and nesting materials. “Rats can transmit quite a few infections,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of UCSF told ABC7.
However, he says that he still won’t stop sending his kids out to play. Instead, he advises parents to be extra vigilant and take more sanitary measures. “Number one, wash your hands. Instruct kids not to put their hands in their mouth after running around a potentially rat infested area.”
The San Francisco Department of Health did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment at the time this article was written.
