Man charged with strangling rat

A DeLand man who strangled a white pet rat in a fight over a cigarette is now charged in the rodent's death, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Darren Daniels, 22, was charged with felony animal cruelty today, said sheriff spokesman Gary Davidson. The charge is in addition to battery and fleeing and eluding charges for which Daniels is still being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail on $3,000 bail, a booking officer said.

The animal cruelty charge complaint was served to Daniels in jail and carries a $5,000 bail, Davidson said.

According to sheriff's deputies, Daniels was enraged on Oct. 9 because his wife took his last cigarette, so he strangled a pet rat to death then refused to stop for deputies who used stop sticks to flatten his car's tires.

Kaela Daniels told deputies that her husband grabbed a white rat from their aquarium, smashed its head against the tank and then strangled it to death.

Responding deputies found two other large white rats, an aquarium with snakes and lizards and a large python curled up in a ball on the bedroom floor, a sheriff's report said.