A man hunting rats with an airgun (one of the only kinds of hunting you can still get away with in England I guess) was surprised by cat sized rats who have caused a panic in the sleepy hamlet of Ravenscliffe. From The Sun:

HORRIFIED neighbours told yesterday how their homes are being invaded by giant rats – including a 30-INCH LONG monster that was shot dead.

The rodents, twice the size of common types, are plaguing an estate in Bradford, West Yorks, often appearing in kitchens and lounges.

It is feared some could be “super rats” from South America.

[…]

But the shaken man who shot it in the head – 31-year-old Brandon Goddard – yesterday revealed FOUR others of the same size scuttled away to safety.

And he said: “They were more like Ratzillas than rats.

“I got out of there as fast as I could. Who knows how many there will be if they’ve been breeding?”

The shot rat, feared to be from a species native to South America, is TWICE as big as common British types and the largest seen here.

The residents of Ravenscliffe estate in Bradford, West Yorks, are used to seeing massive rodents that sometimes appear in their kitchens and lounges.

[…]

Brandon toted an air rifle as he went “ratting” with pals on the edge of the estate – which they had heard was rife with rodents.

The group heard “rustling and scrabbling” before the five huge rats shot out from behind a wall. Brandon, a manager at a cleaning firm, said: “The first went right past but we got the second one. Then three more got away.

“I’ve seen thousands of rats during the course of my work and go shooting a couple of times a week. But I’ve never seen any as big as this. The one I shot was absolutely terrifying. I was shaking. Goodness knows where the others went. I’m glad I don’t live there.”

After taking the photo, the ratters dumped the shot rodent in undergrowth. It is thought it was eaten by a fox.

The estate has long had a monster rat problem. Rebecca told how her cat Marie cornered one in her lounge. But it stood and fought as it was just as big as the moggy.

A neighbour clobbered it with a baseball bat.

And he and Marie took five dead rats to the local council’s offices, tipping them over a desk to demand action.

Rebecca said: “They came quickly, blocked holes and put down poison. But people still see them outside regularly.”

Neighbour Julie Briggs, 28, told how she and partner Andrew Denton, 24, hear rats fighting and squealing in the walls of their rented semi, which stands opposite open countryside.

Mum-of-six Julie said: “I find droppings on the cooker when they get into the house. I’ve seen them in the lounge as we watch TV.

“At night you can hear them chasing each other in the loft. They sound like drag racing cars as they screech across the rafters.”

Last night experts called the shot rat “extraordinary” and said the colony was worth investigating.

I should say so. There’s been much talk of this being an exotic South American species but the picture looks like a regular rat to me. When I heard about this story I thought it could be a muskrat, but that looks more like a Bronx sewer rat … on steroids.

About 60 miles away two large rats were caught in a East Midlands factory that were identified as common brown rats. Each was two feet long, approximately twice the normal size.

Britain isn’t alone however. In 2009 a giant rat was caught in China that weighed about six pounds. It was tentatively identified as a Bamboo Rat and six pounds would be it’s normal size, but the creature was found far outside it’s natural territory.

Are Britain’s giant rats hybrids of exotics with native species, or evidence of a crumbling empire whose sedentary urban populace has allowed vermin to grow to brutish proportions? Either way a hunting season should be declared before these filthy beasts spread a disease or eat a baby.

Surprise! The government cooked the books and actual economic activity for the second quarter was even worse than most believed. But don’t worry, Obama’s going to solve everything:

June’s trade deficit swelled 18.8% to $49.9 billion, the highest since October 2008. That was much worse than Wall Street predicted — or what the Commerce Department estimated in the recent Q2 GDP report. The new report, along with recent inventory data, suggest Commerce will revise down Q2 economic growth from the already-sluggish 2.4% annual rate to about 1%, according to Action Economics. Action Economics is looking for stronger retail inventory figures later this week that would imply a 1.4% GDP pace.

Those downward revisions may bolster Q3 figures. Weaker inventory growth in Q2 suggests there will be less of a drop-off in Q3. Q2’s fat trade gap may mean the same.

But there’s no denying that the recovery is losing steam just as head winds hit. The inventory restocking cycle, which had fueled growth in recent quarters, clearly is ending.

Federal stimulus is waning, with big potential tax hikes looming at year-end if Congress doesn’t act. Meanwhile, state and local governments, though about to get another $26 billion from Uncle Sam for Medicaid and public employees, will be cutting spending and likely raising taxes over the next several quarters. They cut 48,000 jobs in July alone.

Housing activity will be a big negative in Q3 after being a huge positive in Q2. Both reflect the April 30 deadline for the homebuyer tax credit.

Consumer spending — 70% of overall economic activity — grew at a sluggish 1.6% pace in Q2. But even that may be overstanding. Spending picked up through Q1. All consumers had to do was coast in the spring and Q2’s average spending would outpace Q1’s average. That’s basically what happened. Actual nominal spending in June, the end of Q2, actually was slightly below March’s pace. (Inflation-adjusted spending was slightly higher).

Which is just a long winded way of saying it’s all over. We have no more wealth to spend and the government’s big plan to save us is to make people spend more money. Wealth is finite and America has blown through it all not just on wars as the left would have you believe, but on ostentatious promises to millions of people who pay no taxes yet expect a great deal of service. And still there are Americans who demand more.

How ugly will it be when the millions of people who have been promised lives of plenty and leisure realize that at some point the government will run out of money to give them their freebies? Here’s a clue.