WREG.com

Video shows ‘hundreds of rats’ outside Ark. gas station

LEHI, Ark. — A new video shows more rodents spotted outside a gas station along Highway 70 in Crittenden County, Arkansas.

A stunned John Roe, who lives about 20 miles from the gas station in rural Crittenden County, pulled out his phone to record the video. It shows rodents having a field day outside a Valero gas station on US-70 in Lehi.

“I looked over to the right and right by the diesel tanks, there were hundreds of rats running back and forth, jumping in and out of the van,” Roe said.

He said he spends hundreds of dollars weekly at the store and it has a popular deli. That’s the only way some people can quickly get hot food.

“It’s sad. It’s something to worry about,” Roe said.

With the chaos surrounding the rodent infestation at the now soon-to-be closed Family Dollar warehouse in West Memphis, Roe believes the rodents could be finding a new location.

“It could most definitely be the same rats,” Roe said. “It ain’t but a couple miles difference from there to Lehi. A straight shot of just fields.”

We went inside the service station to get answers. A clerk told us about 50 rodents were discovered under a tarp in the back recently but said none of them ever made it inside the store and the owner alerted pest control.

They believe the rodents are coming from fields located behind the store.

With a produce store next door, travelers are constantly coming and going. Roe wants it all cleaned up to protect his family and community.

“Hopefully either they really do something about it or they shut the doors on it,” he said.

A clerk inside the store said pest control will be there on Thursday.

The Arkansas Health Department said they aren’t aware of any complaints but will now investigate the matter.