Giant Gambian Pouch Rat Found in Islamorada
A Gambian pouch rat found dead on Upper Matecumbe Thursday, 11-1-07, is the first ever confirmed sighting of the raccoon-sized exotic rodent in the wild outside of Grassy Key. Wildlife officials fear if the world’s largest rat establishes itself in other parts of the Florida Keys, it could out-compete endangered native rodents such as the Key Largo and Lower Keys marsh rabbit. Of greater long-term concern is its potential to wreak havoc on agriculture should it make its way to the mainland.
“They have the potential to be a huge pest for agriculture in South Florida and they could also establish themselves throughout the southeastern United States,” said Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Since 2004, when officials documented the Grassy Key breeding population as the first of its kind in the United States, the wildlife commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture have spent about $250,000 on eradication efforts. “We think we are down to a few rats,” Hardin said.
Hardin said the discovery does not mean the rat has established itself on the islands between Grassy Key and Upper Matecumbe; rather, he speculated, the rodent might have jumped in the back of a truck or been intentionally transported to Upper Matecumbe. “I think there is almost no way it could have gotten there on its own,” he said. “The presumption has been they’re not going to make it across the bridge.”
Upper Matecumbe is 20 miles northeast of Grassy Key and is separated from it by Long Key and Lower Matecumbe, as well as several smaller islands, bridges and causeways. Phyllis and Bob Mitchell stumbled upon the pouch rat, measuring about 2 feet long from head to tail, while walking their dogs on Islamorada’s Old Highway near Mile Marker 81. “At first I thought it was a cat,” Phyllis Mitchell said. “Then I saw the tail and I thought it was an opossum. But it was the wrong color for an opossum. When my husband came up behind me he said, ‘Oh, my God, it’s a pouch rat.’ ”
Hardin said that over the past few years, wildlife officers have checked out “more bogus reports than I care to tell you about.” Until yesterday, no reported sighting outside Grassy Key had proven accurate. He confirmed the sighting after viewing a photograph The Citizen provided. That tail is a dead giveaway,” he said. Recognizable for its distinctive white-tipped tail and knuckle-sized fang, the rat averages 20 inches to 35 inches and is an omnivore that dines mostly on fruits and grains. In its native Africa, the rat thrives from just south of the Sahara to the northern parts of South Africa.
Some residents used to breed pouch rats in captivity on Grassy Key. The island’s wild population descends from eight domestic rats that got loose sometime between 1999 and 2001. As of July this year, possession of a Gambian pouch rat in Florida is illegal.
One Response to “Giant Gambian Pouch Rat Found in Islamorada”
 Pingback from Keys Treasures Blog » Blog Archive » Florida Keys Strange News Stories For 2007 December 30th, 2007 at 6:47 pm |
[…] Government officials this summer declared war on the Gambian pouch rat, trying to eradicate a colony that established itself on Grassy Key. The imported rodents, prolific breeders, can grow to weigh a fearsome 9 pounds. Gambian rats bred for captivity reportedly escaped when a storm destroyed their cages. In November a dead pouch rat was found in Islamorada. […] |
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