http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/iran-deploys-sniper-teams-in-tehran-to-battle-mutant-rats Where I come from, that is called "varmitting". The story is that Tehran is overrun with large "mutant" rats that are immune and/or resistant to pesticides/poisons and are VERY large. So, teams of sharpshooters are now tasked with "seek and destroy" orders when it comes to the rodents of unusual size (+1 for anyone who gets that). Honestly, in some areas in the US, this is SOP. An area gets overrun with vermin of a particular sort and you simply do whatever it takes to reduce the population.