A New York City man was waiting for a bus recently when he fell into a sinkhole that held another horrific surprise for him ― a swarm of rats.
Leonard Shoulders, 33, suffers a broken arm and broken leg after being swallowed by the 12- to 15-foot crater on a Bronx sidewalk.
“He couldn’t move, and the rats were crawling all over him,” White explained his brother. “He didn’t scream, because he didn’t want the rats going into his mouth.”
The victim’s mother added: “The rats down there were ridiculous, they were so big,” after her son told her his traumatizing story.
Emergency crews took about a half-hour to rescue him and Shoulders was hospitalized, NBC reported.
“He’s alive.” Cindy White said. “Thank God.” And the victim has a major lawsuit in his hands. He will get payed.
But damn imagine being 30 minutes corralled by rats in a sinkhole. That must have been so disgusting! He was in rat territory… And some would probably add: “He was already in rat territory by being in NYC.” (but I didn’t say that… Did I?).
More sinkhole news on HuffPost, NBC NY, Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle.
Rats are evolving to be able to beat conventional traps. As a 4 year old kid, a caught a mole. I put him in a shoebox full of dirt. Parents said, ” you can’t have a mole as a pet.” So, we let him go. They got me a pet lab rat. When he was age four, he caught pneumonia. We let him go to die in nature four blocks away in some ivy.
Several days later the rat came back to our house, and ran over to me on the lawn. He was all better, and he lived a few years more.
Rats could potentially outlive humans.
They are much harder to trap using the cage traps and snap traps. On snap traps, you can crazy glue a dog kibble on bait pan, and smear with peanut butter. They can’t steal the bait.
On cage traps, like the “haveaheart” live trap, you can take an half ear of corn, and put cob holders in each side through the side of the cage trap. Skewers or 4″ screw also works to hold corn. The idea is to put it directly over the bait tray without touching. The rat will make contact by using the tray as leverage to nibble corn.
Those two methods work. Avoid the poison bait sticks, even though they work great. The problem arises when other animals eat poisoned dying rats and mice.
Your dog and cat could eat them. Owls, badgers, and other critters can too. It’s not safe enough.
“But damn imagine being 30 minutes corralled by rats in a sinkhole.”
Yes I can! I have been to NYC just prior to Giuliani