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Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 308, 3 October 1929, Page 2

It is well known that rats will search out food in almost inaccessible places, and a recent occurrence at the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society’s hatcheries in Pukekura Park bears this out. At the present time the hatching trays are full of young trout, which are fed from a small tray containing a mixture of liver and sheep’s brains. A night or two ago a rat got into thd hatcheries, and, although the troughs are all covered by the curator Before closing down for the night, the rodent gained entrance into one of the troughs. To get to the receptacle holding the trout food the rat had to swim under water along the trough for about six feet. After regaling itself on the food the rat attempted to carry some away, but succeeded only in distributing the mixture all over the bottom of the trough. Despite the fact that the trough contained some 20,000 young trout fry these seemed to have been in no way disturbed by their unusual visitor.