http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/rat_bites_cover_baby_found_dea.html This made me tear up. I just can't imagine. My uncle's ear was chewed on by rats when he was an infant, but I'd never heard of a case such as this. I also all-out cried watching a show on MTV earlier tonight...I hate that channel what with all its ridiculous dating shows and filth, but I was flipping through and came across a very young couple giving up their child for adoption. I only watched bits of the show, but they were sixteen or so and decided they were not able to care for a child. When she gave birth she didn't want to see the baby...but I don't think the nurses were sensitive to that all. They repeatedly tried to get her to look down as the baby was born and then put the child towards her face even after she said she didn't want to see. The father asked why they didn't take the infant out of the room immediately...it was very difficult for them to hear their daughter's cries. It all just broke my heart. I understand they were not as responsible as they should have been, thus creating this situation and human life, but my heart bled for them and the baby. The couple who adopted the new child was on the show, but I missed much of that interaction. Well, I've just hijacked my own thread...
Terrible. Why does the city allow the rodents to be so out of hand? Here where I live, in a very large city, they monitor and control the rodents. We don't even see any around any where. This shouldn't have happened. Not in this day and age. It was preventable.
I just can't imagine the pain they'll always feel thinking of the circumstances of their daughter's death. So, so sad.
Don't you wonder if there was something more to the story than that? (re: rats) To me, it just sounds like pieces of the story are missing.
I watched that episode of "16 and Pregnant" too and bawled the whole time as well. What stength those young people had to want to give their baby a better life. I cannot even imagine how that woud feel. They really liked the adoptive parents and I hope that they keep in touch so that they may still take part in their baby's life.
What else could be missing from the story? The parents putting the rats in the crib? The parents killing the infant and then putting the rats in the crib as a cover-up?
It just seems off. It could be in the writing of the story. You just kind of wonder if the baby was crying when it happened and the parents missed it, or if the baby had maybe passed from SIDS, and then the rats came in. You would just think that a baby being bitten by rats would create some kind of sound that would alert the parents. Regardless of what happened, it is a very tragic story and I am very sad for all the people involved.
I know of two people who were bitten by rats and didn't know it. DH's aunt was three. She had been bitten by rats while she slept, and she apparently had no idea they had bitten her. No one recalled her making any noise or complaining about any bites. She died of rat-bite fever. (pre-penicillin days) The other was more recent. We were about 10, and my friend was bitten by rats in her sleep. Shey bit her around the ankles, elbows, and ears. The ear one was the one that woke her up. She didn't know the other bites were there until she went to the doctor.
Several weeks ago, where I live, someone's pet python got out of it's enclosure and strangled their two-year old child to death while the child was sleeping in her crib. Evidentally the father came in just as this huge snake was getting ready to devour the child. Now that is horrific.
Oh my. This is just horrible. That poor family. This is one of those stories where I feel very sorry for the first responders too. I can't imagine having children of my own and then seeing that. It's terrible even if you don't have your own kids. For some reason I think the baby may have died first from SIDS or something, unless the rats got at her face and nose last. I just don't see how she wouldn't have screamed. I mean she had hundreds of bites, not 10 or 20.
I agree. I do find it hard to believe parents put a 3 month old in a room by itself when it's a fact the house has holes in walls and floors AND there is a know RAT infestation there. Sorry....its negligence at best. God I remember how awful my baby screamed when he was hungry or something scared him - let alone being devoured by rats. The only other reasonable thought is that the baby unfortunately passed from SIDS and the rats came.... I don't know. But this is horrifying. There is no way I would live somewhere with RATS. My goodness. I live in the country in a brand new home and we have seen a mouse or two get in from whereever. I get so freaked out about the fact that my baby could be crawling or playing on a spot that a mouse crawled. This town needs to take action and not simply hand out rat poison. this is ridiculous. the article said rats are seen running around of the streets. ....And your going to keep a 3 month old baby living in a house like that??? Oh, it just makes my stomach hurt.....and my heart.
Really???? Well it's possible this could explain it I guess. I still have a hard time accepting that the child wound up bleeding so much that the sheets were bloody and not cry. I just laid my baby down for a nap and this makes me want to go wake him up (isn't it crazy how your mind plays tricks on you???? like when someone mentions lice??) I still think even if its completely an unfortunate event, parents knowing there was a rat infestation should have done something to keep the child safe. I could not fathom living in such conditions.
When I was about in first or second grade (many moons ago) I was scrunching newspapers to stuff in the fireplace for a fire. I saw one newspaper that had a photo closeup of an infant's face, with bite marks all over it. The story was about a baby who died from rat bites. I had to pore over every detail in the paper before it went in the fireplace. I didn't (and still don't) understand how you die from that - do you bleed out too much, or??? but I remember thinking what an awful thing for the parents. When I heard this current story I was immediately transported back in time, and I will continue to pray for the parents of both infants, because it was, and is, a horrible thing to happen.
