**
<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/eowyn2/> Urban Nightmare:
Giant 3 ft Rats in New
York<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/urban-nightmare-giant-3-ft-rats-in-new-york/>
*Eowyn <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/eowyn2/>* | August 26,
2011 at 9:59 am | Tags:
Brooklyn<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=brooklyn>,
Gambian pouched
rat<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=gambian-pouched-rat>,
Jose Rivera <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=jose-rivera>, Marcy
Housing
Project<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=marcy-housing-project>,
Norway rats <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=norway-rats>, Paul
Calle <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=paul-calle>, Wildlife
Conservation
Society<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=wildlife-conservation-society>|
Categories:
Animals <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=817426>,
Insanity<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=29635004>,
United States <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=5850> | URL:
http://wp.me/pKuKY-8Ya
This is not an urban legend. This really happened - and we have the picture
to prove it.
Giant mutant-looking rats are roaming a city housing project in Brooklyn,
New York.
<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/alg_giant_rat2.jpg>
Jose Rivera with the humongous rat
Barry Paddock, Mark Morales and Mike Jaccarino
report<http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/08/25/2011-08-25_giant_rat_killed_by_pitchfork_in_marcy_houses_is_believed_to_be_.html>for
the
*NY Daily News*, August 25, 2011, that Housing Authority worker Jose
Rivera<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Jose+Rivera>,
48, speared a giant rodent with a pitchfork at the Marcy Houses. The rat's
covered in white fur and looks well-fed. It appears to be about three feet
long, including its hideously dangling tail.
Rivera says it's not the only one. While he was filling a rat hole last
week, three came running out - but he was only able to nail one, "I hit it
one time and it was still moving. I hit it another time and that's when it
died. I'm not scared of rats but I was scared of being bitten."
Naomi Colon <http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Naomi+Colon>, head of the Marcy
Houses Tenant
Association<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Marcy+Houses+Tenant+Association>,
said there have been sightings of the outsize rat for at least six years.
"The residents have told me that they've seen it running around with other
rats. She lived with them. She ran into the same hole they ran in."
Animal experts who viewed the picture identified the animal as a Gambian
pouched rat, which is a fairly common pet rat. They're nocturnal, can grow
to three feet and four pounds or more, and live seven or eight years.
Imports have been banned since 2003, when they were blamed for a monkeypox
outbreak that sickened 100 people in the United
States<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/United+States>
.
Dr. Paul Calle <http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Paul+Calle>, director of
zoological health at the Wildlife Conservation
Society<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Wildlife+Conservation+Society>,
said the Marcy Houses specimen was probably an escaped or discarded pet who
decided to join the regular rat race. "They are a very social animal and
live in big groups in the wild. Our
Norway<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Norway>rats are the closest
big rodents it could accompany. They can even be
trained to sniff out landmines or even tuberculosis. They're pretty
remarkable animals."
But the housing project's tenants fear that the Gambian rat has been
breeding with the Norway rats and spawning a super-breed of rodents - but
zoo officials say not to worry. The imported rat probably wouldn't mate with
local rats, and it couldn't reproduce if it did, because each is from a
different genus, Calle said.
Residents say that while the monster-sized rat may be the stuff of horror
movies, the run-of-the-mill rats are an even bigger nightmare at the project
where Jay-Z <http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Jay-Z> grew up. "Even the
cats are afraid of the rats. They get together and gang up on the cats, said
resident Stephanie Davis <http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Stephanie+Davis>,
44. Pam Davis <http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Pam+Davis>, 43, added,
"They're here day and night. We don't dodge bullets. We dodge rats.They're
so big, they should charge them rent."
The New York City Housing
Authority<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/New+York+City+Housing+Authority>had
no immediate comment.
*~Eowyn*
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