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Where is the rat?

May 20, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Rats have been aplenty in the news these past few weeks. About two weeks ago, a magnificent red-crested rat appeared in front of an eco-lodge in Colombia. That species of rat was not seen since 1989. It is being hailed as a major find.
This story made international headlines this past week. It was, however, another type of rat that made the news in Guyana this past week; news that was beamed around the world and which is likely to lead to scientists and curiosity seekers coming to Guyana in droves to find out more about that rat that caused so many problems for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), the national power company.
The power company is at present suffering from a shortfall in electricity generation because of ongoing maintenance works. There have been intermittent blackouts affecting parts of the national grid.
So when in the early hours of Wednesday morning large sections of the country were blanketed in darkness, the general uninformed consensus was that it was as a result of load shedding because of generation shortfall.
As it turned out, it was not a case of generation shortfall. The system had tripped because somehow a rat had reportedly come into contact with live parts of power equipment affecting the system.
One rat brought down the system. Now this is not a small town or village being referred to. The Guyana Power and Light is the national power company, with significant assets.
If you total up the assets of the electricity grid in Guyana, inclusive of generating sets, distribution lines, poles, cables, buildings, plant equipment and transformers, it would probably be in excess of US$1B.
A great deal of money has been spent on the electricity grid in recent years. A great deal is being spent each month on fuel. Millions are also being expended on security. Yet in spite of the money being spent, all it took was one rat – must have been a big one – to bring down a large section of the national grid.
In Japan, it took a double strike of an earthquake and a tsunami to bring down a nuclear reactor. But in Guyana, there was no earthquake or tsunami; there was no hurricane or even any high winds. Instead, the grid came down because of a rat! A rat? Yes, a rat.
So far the GPL has managed to get the grid back up. Power has been restored quickly to most areas. Everything is going fine. But what has become of the rat?
Was it killed during the incident that caused the grid to trip. If so, where is the rat? If this rat is dead, then it deserves to go into the national museum, because this is one rodent which has more than just the life of a rat. This has to be the rat of the century causing almost the entire power grid to come down.
So did the rat survive? If it did, what is being done to catch this big rat? And who knows whether this rat will strike again. If the rat is alive, there may be a need to get a rat catcher or rat trap. A contract has to be awarded. Given the risk that this rat poses, tender board procedures may have to be waived to pay for this rat trap or the services of a rat catcher.
Whether it is roasted or has escaped, this rat has to be one of the most famous of its kind in Guyana. It managed all on its own to plunge almost all of Guyana into darkness for hours. It deserves to be remembered and given a name.
It should also force the authorities to give serious thought to ridding the country of rats. Now getting rid of rats is serious business. On Ulva Island in Australia, there is a plan to airdrop rat poison to get rid of rats inhabiting the previously rat-free island, but the planned airlift has to first gain acceptance, thereby giving the rats a temporary reprieve.
In the Pacific islands, rats are believed to have been behind the extinction of mountain-climbing crabs. So despite the great scientific purposes they have served in laboratories, rats are not man’s best friend.
And in South Korea, a man has been jailed not for harbouring rats, but for painting portraits of them on G20 Summit posters in Seoul. The charge was graffiti.
So the next time you see a rat, don’t be shy. Ask it whether it ever heard about that big one that temporarily brought down the power grid in Guyana. And ask if there are any other rats lurking around GPL.

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