Elderly man keeps almost 200 rats as pets, infuriating neighbours
Imagine yourself in a pet-hoarders situation, only worse because instead of hoarding cats or dogs, your neighbour has almost 200 rats as pets.
This is the case for the neighbours of a 72-year-old Chinese man from Chongqing, China, who goes by the surname Zhou. A retired chemical plant worker, Zhou is keeper to 170 rodents that have infested his apartment.
According to Chinese media outlets, Zhou started out with 45 rats in March, but after pest control was called to his apartment, it was discovered that the rodents bred and the tally was much higher.
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Every day, Zhou would purchase at least 10 bags of food to feed the rats. Video footage of his apartment showed the floor covered in noodles, which Zhou uses to feed the rats.
Zhou revealed that sometimes he would even let the rats eat with him at the dining table.
One of Zhou's neighbours, Zhou Xunlu said that he was shocked to see the rats swarming the floor and furniture. He also claimed that the rats didn't seem afraid of humans.
Disgusted and concerned of the health risks the rodents posed, Zhou's neighbours urged him to kill the rats.
Zhou told reporters that he was a kind and generous man and didn't believe in killing living things.
After much persuasion, Zhou finally conceded and allowed pest control to remove the rats from his apartment. Zhou and his family were temporarily relocated to a nursing home on Friday while pest control carried out their work.
So far, 130 rats have been captured.
The residential community's service centre will continue to work with Zhou on rehabilitating him from his pet hoarding.
Hopefully, those rats won't be making a comeback anytime soon.
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