Photos posted last week to an Okinawa Facebook group popular with servicemembers show a rodent perched atop a soda display at the Kadena Air Base commissary. (Courtesy of Facebook)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — It has been referred to jokingly as “Splinter,” “Stuart Little” and “Ratatouille,” but a hairy visitor to Kadena Air Base’s commissary has raised concerns about a rodent problem at the facility.
Photos posted last week to an Okinawa Facebook group popular with servicemembers show a rodent perched atop a soda display at the commissary on Thursday morning. Other commenters said they, too, saw a pest in the store.
The person who posted the photos said store staff saw the pictures and asked her to put them on social media.
Word of the post spread quickly around the island, home to about 30,000 U.S. troops. The photos drew mixed reactions and inspired humorous memes in which the rodent wears a cape like Mighty Mouse and a “Make America Great Again” hat.
“Rats are common in grocery stores,” one commenter said.
Others added this is not the first time rodents had been seen at the commissary.
“Saw his bigger cousin in the dog food [aisle] a few weeks back,” another poster said.
The scope of the problem is unknown. As of Monday, officials from the Defense Commissary Agency, which oversees military commissaries, had not responded to a request for comment made last Thursday.
