A father battered a rat with a baseball bat when it entered his son’s bedroom and mauled him at their north London home.
Gholam Salehi, 37, from Holloway, said he took a bat to the rodent after hearing screams from his five-year-old son Amir.
He said he thought the foot-long rat was trying to kill his son as it scratched at the boy’s eyes while he slept, also leaving him with injuries to his hands and legs.
Amir was taken to hospital following the incident, which took place in the summer.
Mr Salehi told the Sun: “It was going for his throat, trying to get into his mouth and get to his heart. I thought it had killed him.
“There was so much blood. The rat was crazed.”
Mr Salehi blamed the rat’s presence after rubbish remained strewn on the street after a party at a community hall near their home.
However, Islington Council said it found no evidence of rats at the house.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">A true London monster rat! <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/londonratpack?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3142086-https://twitter.com/hashtag/londonratpack?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#londonratpack</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pests?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3142086-https://twitter.com/hashtag/pests?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#pests</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/rats?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3142086-https://twitter.com/hashtag/rats?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#rats</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/environ?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3142086-https://twitter.com/hashtag/environ?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#environ</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/aSVz4B7zOn" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3142086-https://t.co/aSVz4B7zOn" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/aSVz4B7zOn</a> — Ricky Clark (@londonratpack) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/londonratpack/status/678891281746165760" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3142086-https://twitter.com/londonratpack/status/678891281746165760" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 21, 2015</a>
Pest control experts warn large rats could become a common sight in the capital caused by mild winter temperatures.
Last Thursday, a 15-inch rodent was trapped in a kitchen in Hammersmith by Fulham-based Environ Pest Control.
