The beast of Kawatsu 2

Here we see the second evil beast of Kawatsu, which Miss Violet and I stumbled upon while wandering home on Christmas Eve. It may not look like much in the picture, but this beast is a good metre from nose to tail (I kid thee not, gentle reader), and very old and shaggy - its nose whiskers were grey and it had a general shaggy, hard-done by kind of a look, the sort of look a decent rat can earn by lying in wait near the river and ambushing passing cars.

This beast, we discovered, is not actually a rat, but a Nutria, introduced to Japan in 1930 (which would have been when this one was young I have no doubt). The venerable beast even has its own web page, and is a pest both in reality and on the web. I know how a Nutria can get to be this big in kawatsu - by eating the praying mantises.

I have now seen every crazy animal this country has to offer except the monkeys and the bears. Stay tuned, my friends, for surely they will come to me here in the wilds of Matsue!