Cannibal Rats
Posted Sat, 01/25/14
I have to admit, I've never heard of "cannibal rats" until learning about them on NBC Nightly News and Irish Central last week:
The MV Lyubov Orlova, a 295-foot Soviet-era cruise ship that has been adrift in the North Atlantic since January 2013, is once again said to be near the coast of Scotland or Ireland. The derelict vessel was abandoned at sea early last year when the towline that was pulling it from St. Johns in Newfoundland to the Dominican Republic snapped. The ship was on its way to be sold for scrap metal, so no one was on board – save a population of rats, which, if the ship has not yet sunk, will have resorted to cannibalism, experts say.
When I was a teenager - and into my early twenties - I kept several pet rats. They came from pet stores, mind you, not alleyway garbage cans. The first was a male named Rushki (blond and tan-colored), after which followed Mischa (all-black female and my favorite), and then the diabolical male duo known as Stan (black and white) and Syd (white and beige). I had proper cages and water feeders for them, thoroughly cleaned on a weekly basis. Mischa was the best (the name inspiration for Foofer & The Magic Mischa), loving and friendly beyond belief. She loved snuggling in my hair, and running along my legs from the coffee table to the couch. Her favorite meal was scrambled eggs. Syd (named after original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett), was the worst. He had a creepy nervous disorder. When he saw me or anyone else, his head would sway back and forth as he glared with beady red eyes. Syd bit me more than once. Nasty beast.
But cannibal rats? I cannot even imagine the horror of it. Rats will breed regardless, so the situation on the MV Lyubov Orlova - if news reports are correct - must be gruesome.