As you may have guessed, KRL loves animals, and we also enjoy highlighting those who rescue them. This week we are chatting with Philly Rat Rescue.
KRL: Rescuing animals is a labor of love and total dedication. What was the catalyst for you to acquire Philly Rat Rescue and when did this happen?
Rattie Ratz mission is to find loving forever homes for all the rats who come our way. Many of our volunteers (including myself!) enjoy our own personal ratties just like the folks who adopt from us. Since we are in the business of rescue, we often come across our future pets at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.
What I love most about rescue is being able to give an animal a second chance for a better life, and this could not be truer than for two very sad situations in which many rats find themselves: their use in labs and being bought as live food for reptiles.
As Halloween is right around the corner, I started pondering on the reason why rats are such a favorite animal in a lot of Halloween folklore and why they’re still such a popular animal to display next to the fibrous spider webs, scream masks and hanging ghosts in the local holiday stores.
Many of us have heard about cat cafés, which originated in Taiwan and became a beloved craze in Japan, where tourists and residents alike can now choose from the over 150 kitty cafés that are open in the country. Guests can relax and enjoy a hot cup of tea or coffee, basking in the company of animal friends as the cats roam about, a welcome break from the grind of everyday life.
The little beady-eyed creep irritated the hell out of me. If he hadn’t been one heck of a technician, I would have had him transferred to another department. Much as I liked to hear the figures on the monitors squeal, prolonged listening got old pretty quickly.
I try not to take it personally when people hate on rats. More rats for me! That being said, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. I try my best to educate as much as I can, because I care so much about rat sons, and everyone wants the best for their children. Plus, I love rats so much I really can’t stop proselytizing to anyone who will listen. So here is a quick primer on positive rat PR practice.
One of the hardest lessons a rat owner will ever learn is that the life span of a rat is far too short. When a rat’s life is cut even shorter by an illness, it is that much more devastating. In many cases, the grief-stricken owners are left behind with a mourning cage-mate to look after. This sad occurrence brings many adopters to rescues like Rattie Ratz, where they come looking for a companion for their remaining rat. Maryanne was one such adopter.
Not all rescued rats come from homes or pet shops. Every once in a while a stray will appear. Mortimer was one such stray. He was found near Woodland over the summer and was taken to the Yolo County SPCA, who quickly contacted Rattie Ratz Rescue. The distinction between wild and domestic pet rats is quite obvious as domestic rats have been bred in a variety of colors. If you ever happen to see a rat with white on its body running down the street, know that you have an escaped pet rat making a break for it.
I was still living with my parents when I got my first rats. It was only after months of wheedling that my mother finally caved. At the beginning, when I first broached the topic, my mom would jokingly threaten, “If a rat moves in, I’m moving out!” I’m not certain what it was that finally changed her mind; she once told me that she had thought to herself that if other people were not afraid of rats, then why was she? It didn’t make sense to her that she was so afraid of these tiny animals and other people weren’t!
