Detroit homeower fed up with groundhog problem at unoccupied house next door

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A homeowner in Detroit is fed up with a groundhog problem he says is happening at the home next door and isn't being taken care of by the realtor. 

It's happening on Grandville in the Rosedale Park neighborhood. 

"There's been a family of groundhogs over there for a while now. I called the people that have the house listed for sale but nothing is getting done about it," Michael Johnson says. 

The animals are in the backyard of an unoccupied house. Johnson is next door.

Johnson called animal removal companies but since he doesn't own the house they won't come out - even if he foots the bill.

"It's obvious what's going on here. This property has been vacant for over a decade, no one has been in there except for the creatures that come out day and night," says Stephanie Young, the president of Rosedale Park Improvement Association. 

Johnson went to her after he contacted a building inspector from the city and tried to get the listing agent to do something.

We called the company that manages the property and the listing agent, who sent us pictures apparently of the management company going out on July 23 to address the problem. But according to Johnson the animals are still there.

FOX 2 reached out to the City, and we were told they got a complaint July 22 about the property and didn't find any evidence of groundhogs. But they found other property issues and they issued a correction order for those problems.

The City says it will follow up and keep an eye out for groundhogs.