Interesting story about a missed opportunity!

I didn't know about "water rat" so I looked it up and found this in the Encyclopedia Brittanica:

"No water rats exist in the Asian tropics or at nontropical latitudes. Instead, carnivorous amphibious shrews and moles occupy the water rat’s ecological niche."

According to the biological classification, true water rats are members of the mouse family.

I don't think shrew, mole, or mouse sound more appetizing than rat or turkey loaf, though.