Name: Kat
Country:
Comments: I was on holiday in Goa, India (one of my parents is native to Goa) and I saw a dead rat under a hedge. It was larger than my fully grown cats at home in England.
I wish that I had my camera at the time so that I could really prove to you what I saw.
At first I was shocked and sickened. I was frightened and thought it might somehow still be alive. I continued looking and it appeared dead, so I went in for a closer visual inspection. Not including its tail its body was about 30 inches long, larger than a very large domestic cat. In fact I bet it could eat a cat or even a dog for breakfast. It had short & shaggy greyish fur and a greyish pink tail that was really thick at the base, about 6.5 inches in circumference and the tail (which had some nasty brittle type hairs growing out of it) was another 25 inches (thereabouts). From what I could see, its two front teeth (incisors) were about 2 inches long and slightly larger than half an inch wide each. As its mouth was partly open, I saw its huge collection of nasty shark like molars. Needless to say, even though it was dead, it was quite unsettling. Since then I have looked up every possibility, even the species 'Coypu' but it is very clear to me that what I saw was a definitely a pest rat (other than its grey colour its body shape and head shape completely resembled the black rat) - only much larger and of monstrous size.
I do believe that rats in high tourist areas are feeding like never before and are either growing or mutating into monsters. The Goan/ Indian government really ought to rethink its strategy on pest control.
What shocked me most is that when I reported it to the complex staff, they sent a man(the caretaker) who didn't look surprised at all. He said that he had seen other rats of that size so it wasn't unusual at all.