London children bitten by rats. Pearl and Olive Bonner (left), aged four and two respectively, of New North Road, Islington, received treatment at the Metropolitan Hospital, after having been bitten by rats. Mrs Mary Bonner, mother of the children, says that she put her three children to bed, and about an hour later heard one of them crying. Olive, the youngest child, was found lying in a pool of blood, with her face badly bitten. Pearl had been bitten over the eye. A fresh hole was found gnawed in a wall of the room where the children were sleeping. The family had not been troubled by rats before, and it is thought they may have come from some demolition work nearby. 23 February 1938