rats

[luckyman]

do they really go 4 the throat? and lock onto u? seen 1 the other day...near sht!!!!

[Ethel]

No

I can't remember the last time I heard of anybody being mauled to death by a ferocious rat.

More likely to die from Weil's disease - caused by infection from rat urine.

[luckyman]

ethel i seen it in a house we were clearing out...you have heard all the stories about rats locking onto people when theyre cornered? surely some truth in it?

[jno]

only if trained in karate.

[BillySugger]

Too many Stephen King movies me thinks

[Ethel]

Show me the evidence and I'll believe you.

There are reports of people being bitten by rats, but not attacked in the way you mean.

http://unexco.com/popups/ratattack.html

[Chickadee]

One place I worked was on an estate that had a river running through it. To get to the main road you had to walk under a bridge on a path running alongside the river.
Most days there would be large (very large!) rats on the stairs going up. You either had to walk past them or find another way home - they didn't move. So I don't think we scare them!!! lol

[Barmaid]

I think that is a bit of an urban myth that they go for the face/neck. When they are cornered, they are looking to get out. They see the best means of getting out to go up and over - hence they aim towards the upper body.

I had a live one in my living room last year (courtesy of my cat who brought it in alive). I nearly wet myself when I saw it cowering in the corner of the room. Mind you, it wasn't in great shape - having been mauled by the cat and then left upstairs in the living room all day (where there is no water and rats need to drink every hour else they quickly dehydrate). I went and got the other cat (the killer, rather than the playboy) and poked it with my walking stick to liven it up a bit and she finished it off for me. Still made me heave when I scooped it up to dispose of it.

[shylock73]

Ohhhhhhhhh,I`m going to faint.

[jno]

you're never more than 20 feet from a rat (actually, this isn't really true; it's just an average, but there are a lot of them about, and many are trained killers)

[naflharrison]

my grandfather used to live on a farm when i was a kid and my uncle went onto the barn one day wearing overalls and a rat ran up the leg of his trousers, bit his shin and locked its jaws. he had to go to hospital to have it removed from his leg and even then the rat had to be killed and its jaws cut to remove it, stay clear at all costs they are not more scared of us than we are off them, they are vicious!!!! honest truth!!!

[jno]

rat trainers of course, niceboy. Really, the questions some people ask.