Police Rescue Man From Home With 200 Rats

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The call to the police came in at 1 a.m. Thursday and sounded like a supermarket tabloid headline.

A man in the small Iron Range town of Gilbert was being eaten alive in his home by rats, the caller said.

Police needed to do something!

Skepticism turned to disbelief when they responded. More than 200 black rats -- a colony originating from one pregnant pet-store type of rat that the mentally disabled man had taken in -- had overrun the small house.

"In this occupation, you see a lot of things. Nothing really surprises us," said Police Chief Mark Skelton. "You can never say that you've seen it all, because you haven't."

The 47-year-old man, who had been nibbled on a few times but seemed otherwise fine, was taken to a "safe house," Skelton said.

The man lived alone, he said.

The St. Louis County health department and a pest control company were also called in; rats can sometimes spread diseases to humans.

Officers have spent time calming neighbors, telling them that the type of rat -- a black rat, whose scientific name is rattus rattus -- doesn't stray far from its home. According to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology website, female black rats can produce up to five litters per year and the rats are able to reproduce several months after birth.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5619705.html

because it should.

Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I'll never be alone
And you, my friend, will see
You've got a friend in me
(you've got a friend in me)

Ben, you're always running here and there
You feel you're not wanted anywhere
If you ever look behind
And don't like what you find
There's one thing you should know
You've got a place to go
(you've got a place to go)

I used to say "I" and "me"
Now it's "us", now it's "we"
I used to say "I" and "me"
Now it's "us", now it's "we"
Ben, most people would turn you away
I don't listen to a word they say
They don't see you as I do
I wish they would try to
I'm sure they'd think again
If they had a friend like Ben
(a friend) Like Ben
(like Ben) Like Ben

So, has the zoology community fired the guy who makes the names up, or what?