A laboratory researcher has been treated at hospital because she is devastated by the death of more than 1,000 rats.
Gwynneth Quick, who has been dubbed Rat Woman, kept the rats at her home near Cape Town because she couldn't stand the way they were being treated at work.
Authorities only found out about the rats when she locked herself out of her house and called police for help.
Police found rats running all over the house where they had destroyed most of the furniture and internal fittings. Only one room was reserved for human habitation.
Ms Quick, said to be an exceptionally intelligent woman with a number of university degrees, was treated in hospital after the house was fumigated and the rats killed.
She has now been readmitted for further treatment.