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A photograph of a giant rat allegedly found in a New York shoe shop has gone viral online.

The image is said to show an employee of a Foot Locker store in The Bronx holding the dead 3ft long rat on a shovel.

A similarly monstrous rat, discovered in the Brooklyn area of New York last year, was said to be a Gambian Pouched Rat.

Dr Robert S Voss, curator of mammals at The American Museum of Natural History in New York, said: "There's no way it's a common sewer rat. I'm 90% certain it's a Gambian pouched rat."

Dr Voss said it was possible that the rat could have been an escaped pet. He said the animals looked fierce but were actually very playful and docile.