Mozzarella Canal

"Sorry, pal, but I thought you were going to declare war! You know, paw to paw, fighting it out in the streets, a nice juicy game of rat-and-mouse. That sort of thing."

- Mozzarella about Dupont's idea to learn to read

Mozzarella Canal is the minor antagonist from For Own Paws Only, the second book of the Spy Mice trilogy. He is a big rat from Little Italy, Manhattan. He is Roquefort Dupont's uncle and the best jumper in the city.

For Own Paws Only
Mozzarella arrives for the Global Rodent Roundtable which takes place in New York, alongside with the rest of the rat crime lords. He is the first rat Dupont meets after his arrival. The two visibly have very good relationship with each other. As revealed during their greeting, Mozzarella has a wife named Parmesan who is Dupont's good friend as well. When Dupont asks how she is, Mozzarella replies "Feisty as ever". He then invites Dupont to Little Italy where a new restaurant is, and Dupont introduces him to his gang as the best jumper in Manhattan who jumps into rubbish bins near Italian restaurants.

During the whole G.R.R., Mozzarella is quite inactive. His bigger role comes when Muenster Alexanderplatz and he stops the brawl between Dupont and Stilton Piccadilly as it is possible humans could see them and call the rodent control. He also doesn't agree with Dupont's idea to learn to read, and says he hoped Dupont would declare war.

Later, Mozzarella and all the rats get stuck on the Mayflower float when the mice cut the ropes and the float flies away due its balloons.

Goldwhiskers
Mozzarella is briefly shown in the third book, too. He survives the flight, as some Norwegian fishermen find the float and get it on their trawler. During their time on the ship, Mozzarella and the other rats are forced to eat fish only and they are soon just skin end bone.

After landing in a Norwegian harbor, Mozzarella is shocked to see himself in the showcase and the first thing he wants to do is eating. He then returns to New York.

Trivia

 * Mozzarella is named after an Italian cheese of the same name.
 * His wife's name comes from an Italian granular cheese called Parmesan.
 * As the G.R.R. is the conference for rat leaders, Mozzarella is obviously a crime lord of a rat gang in Little Italy (like Dupont in Washington), although it was never specified in the book. He also didn't travel with his henchmen (if he has some), in opposite of Dupont.