Girl attacked by rats in French home

PARIS — A 14-year-old girl, described as a paraplegic by her father, was so badly bitten by rats as she slept one night this month that her family says she was bleeding from her ears as well as her fingers, toes and much of her body.

As news of the case has spread well beyond the girl’s hometown Roubaix in northern France, just a few minutes from Lille, so too have accusations of insufficient garbage pickup in the neighborhood where she and her family lived.

The public prosecutor has opened an investigation but beyond verifying that the bites were from rats has not described the inquiry.

The girl was treated in a hospital in Roubaix which refused on Saturday to release any information about what happened to her, or about her condition.

The girl’s family, which has not been identified by name in news reports, has since been relocated to another house in Roubaix.

However, their former neighbors say that the area is usually clean and that they have not seen rats around.

Still, they say, there has been a recent problem with waste management.

The girl’s father charged in a video published online by La Voix Du Nord, a local news outlet, that garbage had not been picked up for six weeks and that he had lodged complaints with the housing complex’s management.

City officials, the management company for the complex and residents met Friday on the garbage issue, neighbors said.