Ex Tottenham player gets bitten by a rat at Kruger National Park.
The Kruger National Park has been experiencing an infestation of rats and mice. The last few times we have been to the park, we have seen mice running around the camp, and other visitors have also seen rats in the camps.
Dealing with a rat problems in a place like Kruger is difficult, you can’t use normal poison for the rats, as you need to think of the animals which hunt rats as prey, because it can harm them as well.
Gary Mabbutt was visiting his daughter, who works at the Kruger National Park, while he was there he had a rat chew on his foot.
The former Spurs player was forced to fly back to the UK for surgery after being bitten by a rat. Mabbutt said he still needs daily hospital treatment for his injuries.
“I’ve gone to sleep and during the night a rat had come into the bedroom, climbed into the bed and decided to chew on my foot,” Mabbutt told BBC Radio
“It’s made quite a big hole in my toe, going down to the bone, and ate underneath my foot.”
“Firstly it bit my daughter’s thumb in the other bedroom and she came to me and said ‘Dad something’s bitten me’. Of course being in Africa you think of Snakes and scorpions.”
They both realized she wasn’t bitten by a snake or scorpion as she was feeling fine, so she went to clean her thumb before going back to bed.
About an hour after his daughter came into his room, he felt a bite on his thumb while sleeping, then saw his foot was covered in blood.
“I went to get out of bed to go to the bathroom to clean my thumb. Of course, the bed was covered in blood and my foot was covered in blood.”
“Unfortunately the rat had had a nice meal and I hadn’t been able to feel it” Gary has little to no feelings in his feet due to type 1 diabetes.
He added “All the opponents that I’ve played against and I finally get taken out by a rat”
Despite being told at the age of 17 that he would have to give up football, as a result of his diabetes. Mabbutt played 611 games in a 16-year Tottenham career.
Read about the other animals you can find inside Kruger National Parks camps here.