 Because supplies of ordinary food ran out, starving denizens ate most of the city zoo's animals, and then having eaten those, Parisians resorted to feeding on rats.By early January 1871, Bismarck and the Germans themselves were tired of the prolonged siege.They installed seventy-two 120- and 150-mm artillery pieces in the forts around Paris and on 5 January began to bombard the city day and night.