> pack of vicious rats tore a duck to shreds in a pond <
> councillor terry cartwright said " it's not safe there " <
Yes very ordinary rats will do that, they need to eat, they don't do it often, they will also kill young chickens.
If there is a large rat population at the pond then no it isn't safe, rats carry some very unpleasant diseases, some that can kill.
I would be very confident walking into a barn with 20.000 rats running around the floor as long as they had a means of escape. They will run away every time.