Experts apparently believe this terrifying creature is something called the Gambian pouched rat, and it’s not alone: The Housing Authority employee who made the kill says it came running out of a rat hole with two pals. And the head of the tenant association says residents have reported sightings of the giants beasts for six years. Six years! That’s enough time to make a lot of Gambian pouched rat babies. Jay-Z, perhaps the most famous former resident of the Marcy Houses, might have been “raised in the projects, roaches and rats,” but at least they were only normal-size rats back then.

These rodents are actually a common pet, but their import has been banned in the States for the better part of a decade since they caused an outbreak of monkey-pox, which got 100 people sick.* Are you scared yet? Then you’re not as steel-nerved as Pam Davis, a 43-year-old resident of the Marcy Houses who told the Daily News, “They’re here day and night. We don’t dodge bullets. We dodge rats.They’re so big, they should charge them rent.”

*This posted has been corrected to show that monkeypox caused illness but not fatalities.

Giant rat killed by pitchfork in Marcy Houses is believed to be Gambian pouched rat [NYDN]