Westfield Southland overrun with rats, traders and shoppers saying management must act
Rats are overrunning Southland, with the “huge” rodents regularly seen scurrying into view as disgusted traders and shoppers slam the centre’s management for failing to deal with the year-long infestation.
Inner South
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Westfield Southland has become so overrun with rats, some restaurateurs say their businesses are now suffering.
Disgusted traders and shoppers have slammed the centre’s management for failing to deal with the infestation, which they’ve been complaining about for a whole year.
“The rats have run straight out into plain view of customers multiple times. We have offered discounts and refunds but there’s no doubt sales are down from last year … no one wants to come back if they see rodents running around,” one restaurant owner told the Leader.
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Shopper Vicki Carroll told of her horror when a large grey rat scrambled past her feet at one of the Cheltenham complex’s busiest eateries on Monday night.
“I was with a girlfriend enjoying a cappuccino and all of a sudden a huge rat ran across the floor … I looked over at other tables and they saw it too,” she said.
“The waitress said they were aware of the problem and they were disinfecting everything and covering the food … she was very good about it, you could tell they were very concerned.”
The restaurant owner, who did not want to be named, said rats were “definitely an issue” on the Village Cinemas side of the centre, and that management had not done anything to address concerns which had been raised by concerned traders since November last year.
“We’ve done everything in our power to try and rectify the problem like covering holes but there’s only so much we can do on our end … the retailers have been told that it’s not management’s problem,” he said.
The businessman said rats were using the level as a passing point to access bins located at the basement level of the building.
“They’re coming straight from below us,” he said.
Ms Carroll said the waitress was told that the outbreak could be linked to the relocation of bins on the basement level underneath Village Cinemas.
More shoppers said on social media that the entertainment complex has “had a rat problem for years”.
“(When I was at the movies) a mouse ran right past me … I couldn’t enjoy my movie (and) sat with my feet up the whole time,” one woman wrote.
Of six restaurants contacted by the Leader on the Village Cinemas side, three outlets confirmed the outbreak and one refused to comment.
Another worker said they had not noticed any critters over the last few months.
Two restaurant managers, who did not want to be named, said they had to call in pest control services multiple times to try and tackle the issue themselves.
“The rats were gone for about six years but they have found their way back in over the last few months,” one woman said.
“I left a message with management months ago and I didn’t get a reply … I had to double our pest control visits from monthly to twice monthly.
“It’s disappointing that we’ve been left to deal with it ourselves.”
“We found rat droppings in our shop but since we’ve brought in our own pest control our problem completely disappeared,” another manager said.
“The rats hang around on the mezzanine level near the cinemas exit too, so it’s really hard for us to tackle them from anywhere but our store.”
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But not all shoppers were concerned about the furry vermin, with some defending Southland management on social media.
“Unfortunately there’s rats at every huge complex … some just do a better job at hiding it,” one woman wrote on Facebook.
“Rats are everywhere. If you are concerned, lock yourself in your bathroom,” another wrote.
Westfield said in partnership with retailers, “we conduct regular and proactive pest control inspections using professional contractors”.
“Given some recent reported sightings at the centre, we have asked our pest control contractors to work with us and our retail partners to conduct additional inspections over and above our regular pest control program, this includes increased pest control servicing around loading docks and waste areas,” their statement said.