This is the heartwarming moment a kind woman took food to dozens of swamp rats living on the bank of the river. Massimo Bardino recorded the footage when he spotted the lady's kind gesture towards the coypu rats in Sardinia, Italy.

He said that the woman is ''like a mother rat'' when she visits to feed the rodents. Massimo said: "Her dedication feeding those animals is peculiar, that's why I salute her kindness. Even the beavers recognise her when she arrives to feed the rats.''

The black rats, also known as nutria or coypu, are large, semi-aquatic rodents that live in burrows along riverbanks. They were brought to Italy to be farmed for their fur, but as the fur industry declined and the farms were no longer profitable, many were released into the wild.