African Giant Pouched Rats Suspected in Series of South African Child Killings

Several UK newsites are reporting that a “spate” of rat attacks have left at least two children dead in South Africa. The rats are thought to be Giant African Pouch rats, which are omnivorous, nocturnal hunters. Similar to urban rat attacks in America the rats have been attacking children at night. The victims were infants and toddlers.

In one case the teen mother had left the baby alone to party with friends, and has been charged by police.

An elderly woman was also killed in a rat attack last month. The Sun reports that a 77-year-old grandmother died after “giant rats chewed off the right side of her face.”

The story is of interest in the U.K. because there have been many reports of giant rats in that country, and in at least one case a man shot a 30 inch long rat in a small hamlet called Ravencliff. It is thought that those rats are pouched rats that were kept as pets then released into the wild.

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