Move over Ratzilla, there's a capybara on the loose
A rat the size of a bulldog has been shot dead on a Bradford council estate. Word is, the creature - dubbed 'Ratzilla' by The Sun newspaper - could be descended from the coypu, a large rodent native to South America.
I'm sorry Bradford, but we've got a rat the size of a flat-coated retriever in The Enchanted Village. It's more like a capybara than a coypu. And it's getting bigger by the day.
Champagne-Charlie has been lying in wait for the monster from the safety of the garden shed while he keeps watch over the Sheepwash hens.
Mr Grigg and I dismissed the tale as something told by a big game hunter who's had one too many gins.
But C-C is adamant.
'It was about this long,' he said, doing an impersonation of a coarse fisherman who's narrowly missed landing a 5ft pike.
'Not only that, it had three little babies trailing in its wake.'
Not just a capybara, then, but a bloody pied piper.
Yeuch.
That's about it.
Love Maddie x
I'm sorry Bradford, but we've got a rat the size of a flat-coated retriever in The Enchanted Village. It's more like a capybara than a coypu. And it's getting bigger by the day.
Champagne-Charlie has been lying in wait for the monster from the safety of the garden shed while he keeps watch over the Sheepwash hens.
Mr Grigg and I dismissed the tale as something told by a big game hunter who's had one too many gins.
But C-C is adamant.
'It was about this long,' he said, doing an impersonation of a coarse fisherman who's narrowly missed landing a 5ft pike.
'Not only that, it had three little babies trailing in its wake.'
Not just a capybara, then, but a bloody pied piper.
Yeuch.
That's about it.
Love Maddie x
It makes a change from the Beast of Exmoor, which always mysteriously surfaces during August.
ReplyDeleteSilly season or not, I've seen the beast too, but here in Dorset.
ReplyDeleteSorry, ladies, but it's over here - by our pond...and there's a $%**(# expensive humane trap waiting for it!
ReplyDeleteKnown as nutria on this side of the pond, they have been the bane of farmers in the south for generations. When I was in my teens we used to hunt them in the wetlands around the outskirts of the Great Dismal Swamp. Back then the $2 per head bounty was good money.
ReplyDeleteTell Mr C-C to point his Box Brownie at it the next time it appears and press that little round button on top. There's never any photographic evidence showing the size of these beasts, is there?
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of that urban myth about the woman who vacations in South America and falls in love with an adorable, affectionate little native dog. Smitten, she smuggles it back home. Once home, her other beloved pets are violently dispatched one by one (a veritable Agatha Christie) -- and the horrified woman learns the cute dog is actually a long-haired RAT!
ReplyDeleteI spotted someone yesterday reading one of the tabloids and the front page declared, 'Invasion of the Giant Rats'! Now I know why ...
ReplyDeleteI nearly choked on my coffee there, Fran. I thought you meant you saw a giant rat reading one of the tabloids. Now that would be worth a photo.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is hardly as grounded as these hunters sound lol He screamed out "giant rat" like a girl one night and it stopped and looked offended long enough for me to point out that it was a possum, and now a highly put out one. I mean really, it had a big bushy tail!
ReplyDelete