Rats that gnawed through cable crippled telecommunications services across New Zealand for more than four hours, writes the Australian Associated Press (via Slashdot). As a result, telephone, mobile, and internet services affecting about 100,000 customers were lost on Monday and the nation's stock exchange closed for most of the trading day. Unable to file suit against the rodent, Telecom New Zealand is instead suing an electricity company that knocked out a backup cable when digging a post hole.