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Rat Type Of Dog Type Of Thing

D

Dick Turpin

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
1,027
I was driving home last night and had a near miss with a Muntjac deer – the bloody thing ran out from woodland by the side of the road, right into my path. I broke the car hard and just managed to avoid it as it ran into woodland on the other side of the road – luckily there were no cars behind me, otherwise things could have got messy

Anyway, that prompted me to post this experience of something that happened to me on the same road last November

I was driving north on the A1017,which is country road that runs through north Essex, into Suffolk. it was around 7pm so dark, and as I round a bend I saw a large rat running along the side of the road in my headlights. I’d be the first to admit that I don’t like rodents (especially large Rats) but I’m not one of those people that would take pleasure in squashing it against the tarmac, and as there were no oncoming traffic, I move over to the centre of the road to give it a wide berth.

As I get closer, I can see that despite having the body and tail of a Rat, it was running the way a dog would run, like bounding along the road instead of scurrying along - the head didn’t look right either, and although it went past in a flash, it looked to me that the creature had the head of a small dog – certainly not rodent like, also a little further on, I spotted another so whatever it was wasn’t alone.

I had a stream of traffic behind me, so couldn’t stop, otherwise I would have done.

Anyone have any idea as to what the creature could had been…?
 
Well done for avoiding an RTA. It’s estimated that there are between 42,000 and 74,000 deer/motor vehicle interfaces in the UK every year, resulting in several deaths.

As to species ID: I’d still go for rat. They can get bigger than the average rodentophobe would care to contemplate; and they can muster a surprising turn of speed when motivated.

maximus otter
 
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Krepostnoi said:
Coypu? There is apparently still a population in East Anglia, despite eradication efforts. Seemingly they can reach a metre in length, from snout to tail tip.
Click to expand...

After a quick image-Google I'm wondering that too.
 
Krepostnoi said:
Are you thinking of cavies, maybe? According to Wikipedia (SIMBT): "The coypu somewhat resembles a very large rat, or a beaver with a small tail. Adults are typically 4–9 kg (8.8–19.8 lb) in weight, and 40–60 cm (16–24 in) in body length, with a 30 to 45 cm (12 to 18 in) tail."
Click to expand...

I see that the coypu isn't tailless, but has a short stubby and flattened tail, very unlike a rat's.

Their big cousin the capybara though is tailless and I must have been thinking of that:

PSX_20191010_154936.jpg
 
Coypu were presumed eradicated in East Anglia - and the UK - in 1989. Here's a story about the man who supposedly shot the last one (the 1989 date is given by many other online sources): https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/man-who-shot-britains-last-15019939

I also remember a muntjac deer leaping out of a copse in front of my car, and accidentally running over an implausibly large rat on a country lane in the Cambridgeshire fens back in the 1970s.

I'd frankly doubt there's a remnant coypu population. They're quite elusive, but are so prolific and well-adapted to temperate conditions that they appear to have spread across Ireland from Cork to Dublin in recent years, and I'd imagine there would have been a lot more sightings - not to mention live specimens - turning up in the UK over a 30-year period:
http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/coypu-species-alert/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/env...-spotted-along-dublin-s-royal-canal-1.3834367

From my own encounters - the deer at 8am, bleary-eyed and on my way to work, the bloody enormous rat on a dark winter's night miles from anywhere - I'd be sceptical of any detailed description based on a fleeting glimpse. The encounter is almost bound to leave a certain amount of doubt and disbelief.
 
I saw a Wallaby earlier this year quit rat like but they don't run like a dog,
problem with deer is they don't see a vehicle as a threat so mostly ignore
them with the obvious results I,ve had quite a few encounters, but as soon
as you separate your outline from the vehicle they are off, so don't expect them
to get out the way.
 
They don't allow rats in Alberta, Canada. Not even as pets. It's against the law.

The rest of the world is frequently surprised to discover that in humanity’s centuries-long battle with the rat, there has been only one indisputable victor: The four million people of the Canadian province of Alberta.

“Norway rats are one of the most destructive creatures known to man,” reads the official Alberta government write-up on its world-renowned rat control program. “The people of Alberta are extremely fortunate not to have rats in the province.”

For nearly 70 years, Alberta has successfully kept rats from taking hold of an area larger than France — and it has done so by waging a vigilant and all-out war on the rodent.
Click to expand...

https://nationalpost.com/news/canad...he-first-place-in-the-world-to-banish-the-rat
 
michael59 said:
They don't allow rats in Alberta, Canada. Not even as pets. It's against the law.
Click to expand...

Really? An area of over 250,000 square miles with zero rats? Riiiiight...

l would imagine that burglary, theft, rape etc. are also against the law in Alberta. How are those stats, eh?

maximus otter
 
RaM said:
You know that
I now know that
But has anyone told the rats?
:rtrules::omr:
Click to expand...

I asked that very same question. So, what, they get to the Alberta border and just stop? lol But, apparently if they don't , they die. Rats are supposedly smart little creatures. Maybe after 69 years or so of seeing their mates & pack members die, that's exactly what they do? I don't know, just guessing. :)
 
Dick Turpin said:
I was driving home last night and had a near miss with a Muntjac deer – the bloody thing ran out from woodland by the side of the road, right into my path. I broke the car hard and just managed to avoid it as it ran into woodland on the other side of the road – luckily there were no cars behind me, otherwise things could have got messy

Anyway, that prompted me to post this experience of something that happened to me on the same road last November

I was driving north on the A1017,which is country road that runs through north Essex, into Suffolk. it was around 7pm so dark, and as I round a bend I saw a large rat running along the side of the road in my headlights. I’d be the first to admit that I don’t like rodents (especially large Rats) but I’m not one of those people that would take pleasure in squashing it against the tarmac, and as there were no oncoming traffic, I move over to the centre of the road to give it a wide berth.

As I get closer, I can see that despite having the body and tail of a Rat, it was running the way a dog would run, like bounding along the road instead of scurrying along - the head didn’t look right either, and although it went past in a flash, it looked to me that the creature had the head of a small dog – certainly not rodent like, also a little further on, I spotted another so whatever it was wasn’t alone.

I had a stream of traffic behind me, so couldn’t stop, otherwise I would have done.

Anyone have any idea as to what the creature could had been…?
Click to expand...

Did you get a chance to see what the snout looked like?
 
maximus otter said:
Well done for avoiding an RTA. It’s estimated that there are between 42,000 and 74,000 deer/motor vehicle interfaces in the UK every year, resulting in several deaths.

As to species ID: I’d still go for rat. They can get bigger than the average rodentophobe would care to contemplate; and they can muster a surprising turn of speed when motivated.

maximus otter
Click to expand...

Hi Krep

I’ve never heard of Coypu to be honest, but after googling the image it’s definitely wasn’t that – I only had a fleeting glimpse as I sped past at 60mph - I should have posted the experience the moment I got access to the internet when my memory was fresh.

It happened almost a year ago, and from what I remember the head was more square shaped and the ears more pointy and stuck up.
 
SummerLightning said:
Coypu were presumed eradicated in East Anglia - and the UK - in 1989. Here's a story about the man who supposedly shot the last one (the 1989 date is given by many other online sources): https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/man-who-shot-britains-last-15019939

I also remember a muntjac deer leaping out of a copse in front of my car, and accidentally running over an implausibly large rat on a country lane in the Cambridgeshire fens back in the 1970s.

I'd frankly doubt there's a remnant coypu population. They're quite elusive, but are so prolific and well-adapted to temperate conditions that they appear to have spread across Ireland from Cork to Dublin in recent years, and I'd imagine there would have been a lot more sightings - not to mention live specimens - turning up in the UK over a 30-year period:
http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/coypu-species-alert/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/env...-spotted-along-dublin-s-royal-canal-1.3834367

From my own encounters - the deer at 8am, bleary-eyed and on my way to work, the bloody enormous rat on a dark winter's night miles from anywhere - I'd be sceptical of any detailed description based on a fleeting glimpse. The encounter is almost bound to leave a certain amount of doubt and disbelief.
Click to expand...
I'm fairly sure I saw a coypu in Norfolk, and zoologist Karl Shuker thinks he saw one I think somewhere in the west Midlands.
 
Dick Turpin said:
Hi Krep

I’ve never heard of Coypu to be honest, but after googling the image it’s definitely wasn’t that – I only had a fleeting glimpse as I sped past at 60mph - I should have posted the experience the moment I got access to the internet when my memory was fresh.

It happened almost a year ago, and from what I remember the head was more square shaped and the ears more pointy and stuck up.
Click to expand...
Daft question, but are you sure it wasn't a hare?
 
Long time back I saw two rats that I (briefly) at first thought were dachshunds, same size same shape !. Also a cat that I used to have killed a rat that was the same size as himself, he somehow managed to drag it through the catflap, not the sort of thing you want to deal with fisrt thing in the morning. So, yeah, rats can get a damn sight bigger than most people realise.
 
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