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Giant rats as big as cats have killed and eaten two babies
in separate attacks in South Africa's squalid townships this
week.
Lunathi Dwadwa, three, was killed as she slept in her
parent's shack in the Khayelitsha slum outside Cape Town
and another girl was killed in Soweto township near
Johannesburg the same day.
Little Lunathi was sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor
of her family's breeze block and corrugated iron home on
Sunday night when she died. Her puzzled parents didn't
even hear her scream.
When her mother discovered her lifeless body, she saw that
her daughter's eyes had been gouged out.
Bukiswa Dwadwa, 27, said: 'I can't forget how ugly my child
looked after her eyes were ripped out.
'She was eaten from her eyebrows to her cheeks, her other
eye was hanging by a piece of flesh.'
Her father Mncedisi Mokoena said police told him: 'Nothing
could have done that but rats'
And today police revealed that a baby girl died in the
Soweto township when she was attacked by rats while her
teenage mother was out with friends.
'We were called to the scene of the death of an infant due
to a rat attack on Monday morning at around 9am,' said
police officer Bongani Mhlongo.
'The mother of the child was arrested on charges of culpable
homicide and negligence.'
The deaths appear to be part of a spate of deadly rat
attacks in the country.
Last month, 77-year-old grandmother Nomathemba Joyi died
after giant rats chewed off the right side of her face.
Residents of South Africa's impoverished townships say the
giant rats grow up to three-foot long, including their tails,
and have front teeth over an inch long.
The suspects in the baby attacks are believed to be African
Giant Pouched Rats, a species only distantly related to UK
rats, but native to sub-Saharan Africa - and the biggest in
the world.
They are nocturnal, omnivorous and can produce up to 50
young a year. Some tribal people breed them for food.
They thrive in the townships' filthy conditions and feast on
residents' uncollected rubbish.
in separate attacks in South Africa's squalid townships this
week.
Lunathi Dwadwa, three, was killed as she slept in her
parent's shack in the Khayelitsha slum outside Cape Town
and another girl was killed in Soweto township near
Johannesburg the same day.
Little Lunathi was sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor
of her family's breeze block and corrugated iron home on
Sunday night when she died. Her puzzled parents didn't
even hear her scream.
When her mother discovered her lifeless body, she saw that
her daughter's eyes had been gouged out.
Bukiswa Dwadwa, 27, said: 'I can't forget how ugly my child
looked after her eyes were ripped out.
'She was eaten from her eyebrows to her cheeks, her other
eye was hanging by a piece of flesh.'
Her father Mncedisi Mokoena said police told him: 'Nothing
could have done that but rats'
And today police revealed that a baby girl died in the
Soweto township when she was attacked by rats while her
teenage mother was out with friends.
'We were called to the scene of the death of an infant due
to a rat attack on Monday morning at around 9am,' said
police officer Bongani Mhlongo.
'The mother of the child was arrested on charges of culpable
homicide and negligence.'
The deaths appear to be part of a spate of deadly rat
attacks in the country.
Last month, 77-year-old grandmother Nomathemba Joyi died
after giant rats chewed off the right side of her face.
Residents of South Africa's impoverished townships say the
giant rats grow up to three-foot long, including their tails,
and have front teeth over an inch long.
The suspects in the baby attacks are believed to be African
Giant Pouched Rats, a species only distantly related to UK
rats, but native to sub-Saharan Africa - and the biggest in
the world.
They are nocturnal, omnivorous and can produce up to 50
young a year. Some tribal people breed them for food.
They thrive in the townships' filthy conditions and feast on
residents' uncollected rubbish.
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