Back in the mid 80's I was installing floor covering for a living. Worked a house in rural KY. The house next door had an old man living alone. The neighbors and local churches would bring him food, help with yard work, etc. His house had about a hundred rats living there. He fed them because he was both afraid of them and liked them as pets. They would check on him at least once a day for fear he would fall or die and the rats would eat him. Eventually he did die and the city, knowing about the rats, brought in a backhoe and dug a trench around the house, and set the house on fire. The residents said it was the most eerie thing they had ever seen.