why would anyone be scared of a rat?

You wouldn't ask that question if you had ever been confronted by a rat. Snakes I don't like but I don't like to kill them. Spiders I like and I try to encourage them to take up residence. Geckos are nice little lizards and I try to encourage them to clean up the mosquitoes. But mice and rats, they are scary animals. This one the other day had a body about 15cm long and a tail just as long. 30 cms of pure scary rat!
It is now dead. It must have gone outside and was about to come in to terrorise me for the evening when Patch the dog barked and I looked around and there was Patch standing over the body of the still twitching rat. Peter the security guard removed it the following morning (Sunday). He told me that no sooner had he thrown it into the long grass than a pidgeon flew down and scooped it away.