Drug-addicted rats plague Texas police evidence stores
Drug-addicted rats are destroying evidence in warehouses, which is a serious problem for the Texas police. Even exterminators are struggling to deal with the rodent infestation.
Houston is storing 1.2 million pieces of evidence, including 180,000 kilograms (about 400,000 pounds) of marijuana, which attracts rodents, reported the American news agency UPI (United Press International), citing Mayor John Whitmire. He announced a plan to resolve the situation, including disposing of drugs that have been stored for over a decade in Texas police warehouses.
Whitmire at a press conference stated that they are still holding onto unnecessary evidence that will no longer affect any verdicts.
Drug-addicted rats eat police evidence
– They're drug-addicted rats. They're tough to deal with – said Peter Stout, head of the city's Criminalistics Centre. He emphasised that rats are also destroying other physical evidence, not just marijuana. The police called in extermination specialists but they were unable to get rid of the rodents.
The situation escalated to the point where the starving and drug-addicted rats disrupted at least one ongoing case. The rodents got into a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms and ate them all.
Houston is not the only city facing this problem. Last spring, New Orleans police also complained about rats destroying evidence.
– The rats are eating our marijuana. They're all high – explained Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick during a meeting of the city's justice committee.
