A lonely, elderly man was found living in squalor with hundreds of rats that he fed and turned to for companionship.
Angelo Russo, 79, was hospitalized for a mental evaluation after authorities discovered the filthy conditions. The rats were so domesticated that they just sat staring at the health officials and exterminators who entered the house."I don't know what he had been feeding them, but these were nice big rats, fat and fluffy. They had very thick fur," said Paul Minshew, assistant director of the county's environmental health department.
Authorities were alerted to the conditions last week by a utility worker Russo called to repair his water heater.