Quote Originally Posted by Galician View Post
Are they live?
No!

The "rats" are cloth and stuffed with something like sawdust. The chap "loading" the pipe usually has a "special rat" loaded with lead shot, or some such, in his pocket, just in case an expert "basher" turns up and gets too good! If you look at the picture you will see a pile of "rats" on the ground below the pipe.