This is Part II of the battle, which took place in January 2017 and ended in a draw.
When you fail to think things through, to consider various possibilities, things don’t always go as planned. That’s obvious, I know, but it’s my best explanation for the outcome of the rat battle.
I’m going to be blunt here. The most effective way to prevent the freeloading rat from continuing to visit my castle was capital punishment. This wasn’t a catch and release situation. Did the rat deserve the death penalty for the crimes of B&E and petty larceny? I thought so. The rat didn’t agree. In his defense, he hadn’t blabbed to his fellow rats about the easy pickings at my house. At least, not so far.
Our sketchy plan was to release the rat near Mud Bay and for my neighbor to execute him using a flat-nose shovel. Burial would follow. Why do this on the shore of Mud Bay? I don’t have a yard and that was the closest open level area.
As I got ready to release the rat, my neighbor raised the shovel. This might be a good time to explain why he was performing the dirty deed instead of me. Sorry, can’t do that without admitting to some character deficiencies—at least the character type needed right then.
As we learned an instant later, rats are fast, agile, and tricky with unparalleled survivor instincts. Plus they can swim. Instead of waiting for the death blow, the rat shot forward, leaped into Mud Bay, and started swimming for his life.
He’ll be back, I thought. The frigid water will deter him and he will return to shore. Slowed down by the cold, he will be easier to deal with.
The rat had no intention of returning. Carried along by a strong incoming tide, he was quickly out of reach even if we had thought to wear waterproof boots. Lamely, we began chucking rocks at the rat.
You probably did this as a kid, only the target was a log or floating plastic bottle. So you can picture two old guys trying to do something that neither was any good at when they were kids. None of our rocks came close. In a minute or two, the rat was out of rock range.
My neighbor has excellent eyesight and was able to follow the rat’s progress as the tide and his frantic breast stroke carried him diagonally across Mud Bay toward Marine Drive. “Don’t worry, he’ll drown,” my neighbor said. To me, the dark floating object was difficult to see in the choppy water. Had hypothermia claimed the rat, I’m not sure I would have seen him go under.
Soon, we both lost sight of the rat. Too late, I ran inside to get my binoculars.
We were split on whether the rat reached land on the Marine Drive side of Mud Bay. I think he made it. My neighbor thinks he drowned. To make his case, he pointed to the distance and water temperature. My case, made to myself, had the rat surviving as payback for not considering everything that might go wrong.
If he did survive, he must have found a new home on the other side of the bay. The next week I installed a louvered grate over the heater vent and retaped the joint in the heating ductwork. I haven’t had any rat sightings since.
Mud Bay Blog 