Fat Rat Stuck in Manhole

About

Fat Rat Stuck in Manhole refers to the nine person task of rescuing a rat in Germany that was too round to fit through a hole in a manhole cover. The incident was reported on around the world.

Origin

On February 24th, 2019, YouTuber Berufstierrettung Rhein Neckar uploaded a video of the rescue that took place in Bensheim, Germany (shown below). The rescue was prompted by a call from a concerned child.^[1] The rat was freed and sent back into his sewer. The video received 2.4 million views and 3,700 likes in four days.

Spread

On February 26th, 2019, after the news spread to other countries, Twitter user @Sequins4Thought^[2] posted a picture of the rat with the caption "I’ve never related to anything more than this picture of a fat rat stuck in a sewer grate" (shown below, left). Many more Twitter users related to the rat. The next day @26percentbad^[3] posted the rat image and said "After all, aren't we all just fat rats, stuck in the manhole covers of life?" (shown below, right).

That same day @sydneysaage^[4] posted an edit of the picture of the rat stuck in the manhole explaining the "anatomy of the fat german rat stuck in a manhole (also called someone need to take photoshop away from me)" (shown below, left). @BenjaminJS^[5] also posted an edit with the caption "The saddest part of "The Neverending Story" is when Atreyu's fat rat gets stuck in a manhole cover" (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References