Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 1976
Location: Gold Canyon
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:51 pm Post subject: Toilet Surfing Rats
Sounds like a new heavy metal band, but it's really the latest thing to hit UofA neighbors.
The Arizona Republic wrote:
TUCSON - Residents of a neighborhood next to the University of Arizona say small, live white rats have been swimming through sewer pipes and into their toilets.
Laura Hagen Fairbanks of Pima County's Wastewater Management Department said she doesn't know where the rodents come from. But she said they are the kind researchers use in labs.
University representatives point out that the same type of white rat is sold in pet stores.
George Humphrey, spokesman for the Arizona Health Sciences Center, said university researchers follow strict guidelines for their lab specimens. "There would be no evidence that these are connected to us, and I wouldn't want that to become an urban myth," he said.
Making it from the sewer into someone's toilet is a difficult trip. A 4-inch pipe runs from the house to a sewer main. And there's no "trap door" or other barrier in place. If the lines are running, the rats have to hold their breath and swim uphill against the water current.
The Pima County Health Department said it's best not to handle or touch a toilet-surfing rat, although the chance of getting rabies or plague is low in this situation.
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