The mayor of a city in central Wyoming says homeless squatters "destroyed" a local motel and left hundreds of pounds of human feces in the downtown area.
"It's like nothing I've ever seen. It's third-world-country stuff happening in Casper, Wyoming," Mayor Bruce Knell told Cowboy State Daily.
Knell says squatters moved into a vacant Econo Lodge and caused damage that would cost millions of dollars to repair. The city had to condemn the property.
"They destroyed everything," he said. "It was inhabitable, and it was unsafe."
They also left behind about "500 pounds of human feces" that city staffers had to clean up from around the downtown area.
"In desperate times people do desperate things, and unfortunately we're the ones left having to deal with it," he said.
The mayor estimates roughly 200 homeless people are roaming the city's streets and parks, "just out and about in our community raising hell." He said the homeless community has been attracted to Casper through a "network" where they "just talk to each other and say, 'Casper is a great place, they don't bother you here.'"
And that's something he wants to change. Knell said he and the City Council are considering more restrictive laws on squatting and "urban camping" in an effort to combat the growing problem.
"We know very well we cannot litigate our way or arrest our way out of the problem, but our police need some teeth to start dealing with the squatting," he said. "They're just causing so many problems."