Single mother of five struggles with squirrel infestation in Pierrefonds apartment

Ihssan Seif woke up in the middle of the night in early November to the screams of her 18-month old daughter.

After rushing into her room, she saw a squirrel inside the crib, and bloody scratch marks all over her daughter's leg.

Seifsays her Pierrefonds apartment has been a nightmare since the beginning of the month.

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"I brought my kids to daycare and when I came home with the baby, there were about 20, definitely more than 10 squirrels, in the living room," she said.

"I was shocked."

Seif lives at the Cloverdale Village co-operative, near the eastern end of Pierrefonds. The co-ophasmore than 50 buildings.Many of its residents relyon provincial housing subsidies to pay rent.

She is a recent immigrant from Djibouti. With no job and as a single mother offive kids under seven, she struggles to make ends meet.

Seif says she immediately alerted the co-op's managerafter finding the squirrel in the crib. But now,she's taken tosleeping with all of her kids in one room.

"I don't sleep at night. I'm watching the kids because the squirrels have already scratched my baby," she said.

The rodents also chewed through the power cords of her refrigerator and stove, forcing Seif to store some of her food on her balcony.

When she pulled the fridge away from the wall, she discovered two dead squirrels.

On top of that, cockroaches are also a problem.

Seif, who cannot read or write,turned to her social worker from thePierrefonds CLSCfor help and is moving in temporarily with a neighbour.

Co-op director says tenant is lying, due torent dispute

Cloverdale director Hlne CiabuKalongasays the office received a call from Seif'ssocial worker on Nov. 7 highlighting the squirrel problem.

She says she immediately called an exterminator to deal with the issue. Cages were then installed inside the apartment to catch the rodents.

"Since that time, absolutely zero squirrels have been caught," Ciabu Kalonga said.

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A concierge was also sent to the apartment to inspect where the squirrels could be entering and no obvious place was uncovered,CiabuKalongasaid.

Seif says she got her neighbour to get rid of the squirrels caught in the cages, not knowing the co-op wanted her to tell them.

Ciabu Kalongasays she believes Seifis either lying about the squirrel situation or letting them inside the apartment herself.

"I've been living inCloverdalesince 2001 and it's the first time I've ever heard there were three or four squirrels," the co-op director said.

Due to a mix-up concerning her housing subsidy, Seif owes the co-op more than $3,000. In a judgment, Quebec's rental board acknowledged the confusion but ordered Seif to pay back the amount in monthly payments of $200, recognizing her limited financial means.

"She started to have 20,000 bugs inside her apartment as a pretext to have us cancel the [rental board's] agreement,"CiabuKalonga.

Seifdenies thatclaim, andaccusedCiabuKalongaof failing to do her job.

"I'm very very disappointed,"Seifsaid.

Borough says follow up done with co-op

According to Pierrefonds' director of communications, Johanne Palladini, the borough told the co-op to hire exterminators.

"No squirrels or cockroaches were found. The exterminator will make an inspection every two weeks and report any changes to the city," she said.

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Palladinisays the responsibility of the borough is to ensure the co-op follows up onSeif's complaint, which was done.

"Otherwise, this is a private matter between a landlord and a tenant in which we can not interfere," she said.

"We are told that they went to the Rgie[dulogement], which sided with the co-op in this case."

However,the squirrels were notraised during the hearing over rental payments.Seif says she's preparing to file a separaterental boardcomplaint about thesquirrels.