Rats taking over a Punta Gorda Walgreens

The next time you head out to pick up your prescriptions, be sure to watch your step. Unwanted rodents were discovered by an employee that says feces and pee are everywhere.

The rats have employees disgusted, and there are a lot of them.

The unwanted visitors have been creeping, crawling, and infesting the Walgreens on Monaco and US-41 in Punta Gorda.

An employee at the store sent us pictures they took of the rats and said they are horrified. The employee asked WINK News to conceal their identity because they are scared to lose their job.

“I can go and start grooming. I can see crawling up the wall. We’ve been told that they’re chewing up the water bottles, which none of us realized it was happening. We find popcorn, pistachios, cheese all over the place. And now we’ve been told they’re up above our base,” said the employee. “Like there’s feces and pee.”

The employee said the problem started around Halloween

“They’re getting bolder and bolder every day,” the employee said.

The Walgreens worker said they finally broke down when they saw a woman trying to buy this chocolate bar with a massive bite mark.

“I wanted to break down in tears. That’s what broke when I had a customer who was very elderly, trying to buy a six-pack of chocolate. And I saw it right, snatch out of her hand. It’s, ‘oh, no, that’s got a hole in it. Let me get you a new one.’ Broke me,” the employee said. “I can’t do it anymore. It’s disgusting. And we’re being made to touch and clean it. It’s not healthy for anybody that for our customers, not for our employees.”

Walgreens admitted they knew about the problem and said they’ve been working to fix it, but now they’re going to step up their efforts.

They sent a statement that reads: “The safety and security of our patients, customers and team members is our top priority. We have been working to eliminate the problem and are stepping up our efforts to remove the pests.”

The employee said they hope Walgreens fixes the problem because they love their job. The employee just wants the rats gone.

“I love my job. I love the people I work with. I just want the store to get cleaned up, so it’s safe. For everybody on the employees, management, district management, express their customers,” the employee said. “I just wanted to get cleaned up for the health of everybody, you, especially my customers. That was very upsetting.”