Today I broke my spade handle.
I had 2x rats in the garden this afternoon (seen about two hours apart). They were both nuzzling at the base of clumps of grass when I spotted them, and were dozy as can be. I wasn't exactly quiet as I approached either of them, in fact my initial reaction was to scare off the first one (and the second one scared off She Who Is To Be Obeyed) but they didn't pay any attention or attempt to run away.
They were either very stupid or else someone had put some poison down. I tend to favour the poison theory.
Anyway, not being a pinko liberal vegetarian (see posts on humane rat disposal elsewhere under pests, diseases and disorders), I thought I'd put them out of their misery and thwacked them with the back of my spade. The second one was when I broke the handle.
I suppose I feel a bit guilty, hence I'm seeking reassurance that for me to be unable to frighten them off means they probably weren't well, and were probably poisoned.
Or there is another alternative - disease. Could they have some dodgy illness that I/we should be alert to?
