Ratting on your neighbours
Market Matters September 2010
The month of August meant Parliament was in recess and politicians were on holiday. Serious news stories were hard to come by but the newspapers still had a field day with ‘silly season’ stories, which this year meant rodents.
The Sun reported that residents on the Ravenscliffe Estate in Bradford were fighting off an invasion of ‘Ratzillas’ – 30-inch long monsters that stand up to the local moggies. The RSPCA and Mammal Society were sceptical and suggested they may be Coypus, a South American lookalike, which had escaped a nationwide cull in the 80’s but locals are having none of that. Resident Rebecca Holmes said her cat Marie had cornered one in her lounge but was unable to dispatch it because the rat was as big as her (the cat, that is). It took a neighbour with a baseball bat to do the business. Fearless local rat hunter, Brandon Goddard, also claimed a monster, saying, ”It took four shots to polish him off”. Relatives of the rat were unavailable for comment.
