PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Meet Sue Stenhouse who guides the state of Rhode Island with all strategies for disaster preparedness and the poise to handle all associated community relations. When confronted by a rat however, she was more prepared to use supplies immediately within her reach, such as rubber bands and perfume.

Exterminators have taken measures to trap and remove the pests, but unfortunately these rats are wiley.

Stenhouse is confident that a mouse is no specific threat, but she was surprised to see that this rodent was no mouse as it reared up to look at her.

"I thought it was a squirrel that really just came in a window or something," said Stenhouse, Gov. Don Carcieri's director of community relations and emergency preparedness. "And then, I saw that tail and I was really concerned."

Concerned describes her approach kindly.

She ascended a chair wielding rubber bands and Obsession. The rat was largely unimpressed with her defense and left quietly to investigate another office.

Stenhouse then notified security of the unwanted intruder.

"They said, 'Oh, yeah, we have a little problem,"' she said. "I didn't think this was so little."

Another varmint was seen outside of a senator's office.

A spokesman characterized the creature as a "good-sized mouse," because impressions of a mouse are significantly less frightening than uttering the word rat.

"They would prefer to think of this as a large mouse," he said.

An exterminator left traps out over the weekend but was careful to be clear when describing what he found.

"He found some mice droppings," the spokesman said. "No rat droppings."

One trap will be left behind in Stenhouse's office from future threat.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) AP-NY-11-16-09 1645EST