A gargantuan rat the size of a small child has terrorised a Swedish family, scrambling around the kitchen of their Stockholm home with a trap clamped around its bloated neck.
No ordinary trap could kill the colossus straight away, mother Signe Bengtsson-Korsas observed. Instead, after the 16-inch beast was snared by the trap as it ran away behind the kitchen cabinets, with deafening squeaks, until it finally expired.
"It was a monster, the worst thing I have ever seen," Bengtsson-Korsas told the Sun.
The monster rat in all its glory
The ordinary trap could not kill the colossus right away
"The rat was so big it did not die," her husband Erik Korsås said. "In the end we managed to find it dead, it had slowly strangled. Then we felt a bit sorry for it."
He told the Local that the kids were still afraid of the rat long after it had died. "The kids were afraid it would come back to life as some sort of zombie rat. They didn't want to touch it," he said.
The family had been terrorised by this titan of rodents for several weeks, which had gnawed through pipes and flooded the kitchen.
They initially thought it was a mouse, especially when their cat Enoch began lying in wait for the rodent's return in the pantry.
The family had been terrorised by this titan of rodents for several weeks
But nothing could have prepared them for the terrible beast that emerged. And out he came, as Bengtsson-Korsas was emptying the bins, sending her and the cat running in terror.
"It was right there in our rubbish bin, a mighty monster. I was petrified. I couldn't believe such a big rat could exist," she told the Local.
"I couldn't help but do the old classic and jump on the kitchen table and scream."
The rat has been nicknamed 'Putin' by one of the family's son.