SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) - The city has joined battle with a legion of rats that have invested a condemned home in Sioux City.

Neighbors have complained to the city, fearing the rats will spread to their properties in the city’s Leeds neighborhood. One resident says rats have been seen coming from the house for more than a year. Several neighbors call the conditions at the property disgusting.

Mayor Bob Scott says the city has been trapping and poisoning the rats. The Sioux City Journal reports that a wire mesh barrier was erected around the property, although Scott says he realizes the rats can and have climbed over it.

One neighborhood resident reports once seeing up to 15 to 20 rats a day, a figure that’s fallen to two or three a day since the city took action.

It’s unclear why the condemned home hasn’t been renovated or razed.

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Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com

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