In response to the story, Dr Penny Hawkins, RSPCA senior scientific officer, explains that, "Rats have a really bad press and this doesn't help. These are animals that actually respond to one another in social distress." Hawkins adds that if this did happen on the ship with no food, "then it was in response to a highly stressful situation, even if it is very unrealistic. They are no more inclined to eat one another than humans."