03-28-2012, 03:01 PM
here he is Cracker! he migrated up from Grassy key in Fla. you need a rat handler! 
![[Image: rtxn1ux.jpg?w=600&h=400&crop=1]](http://timenewsfeed.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/rtxn1ux.jpg?w=600&h=400&crop=1)
Tanzanian rat handler Kassim Mgaza plays with a Gambian giant pouch rat in southern Mozambique
rat handler?
A species of invasive African rat larger than the average house cat has made a reappearance in Grassy Key, despite efforts to wipe them out for the past 10 years. According to KeysNet, the population of Gambian pouched rat breed of giant rodents proliferated at the turn of the century when a local exotic animal breeder allowed eight to escape.
As of 2009, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission thought the region was in the clear. But alas, the 3-foot-long beasts, weighing as much as 9 pounds, came back with a vengeance. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at least a few dozen are running wild.
They’ve even shown up in Brooklyn, N.Y., only to be harpooned with a pitchfork, and are also allegedly responsible for killing and eating two babies in South Africa last year, the Huffington Post reports.
Luckily, the Gambian rat can only produce one litter of up to six every nine months, and can’t reproduce until it’s five months old. To trap the remaining rodents, city officials plan to disperse 200 traps with cantaloupe, peanut butter, almond extract and anise as bait. Laced with a deadly zinc phosphide, wildlife officials predict the rats will die after consuming it while burrowed underground.
![[Image: 15IsSA.St.143.jpg]](http://media.keysnet.com/smedia/2012/03/23/14/08/15IsSA.St.143.jpg)
Tanzanian rat handler Kassim Mgaza plays with a Gambian giant pouch rat in southern Mozambique
rat handler?
A species of invasive African rat larger than the average house cat has made a reappearance in Grassy Key, despite efforts to wipe them out for the past 10 years. According to KeysNet, the population of Gambian pouched rat breed of giant rodents proliferated at the turn of the century when a local exotic animal breeder allowed eight to escape.
As of 2009, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission thought the region was in the clear. But alas, the 3-foot-long beasts, weighing as much as 9 pounds, came back with a vengeance. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at least a few dozen are running wild.
They’ve even shown up in Brooklyn, N.Y., only to be harpooned with a pitchfork, and are also allegedly responsible for killing and eating two babies in South Africa last year, the Huffington Post reports.
Luckily, the Gambian rat can only produce one litter of up to six every nine months, and can’t reproduce until it’s five months old. To trap the remaining rodents, city officials plan to disperse 200 traps with cantaloupe, peanut butter, almond extract and anise as bait. Laced with a deadly zinc phosphide, wildlife officials predict the rats will die after consuming it while burrowed underground.