Recognition and Rat Rescue
I’ve had a couple of blogs give me kudos for my rescue of the little wild rat mentioned Here and Here.
HoundsGood and AnimalShak both had wonderful things to say about my rescue.
I never realized that rescuing one animal would be so noteworthy. Then I read a comment that made me say, “Oh…yeah. THATS why.”
That comment was part of AnimalShak’s post and it was: “I honestly don’t know if I could rescue a wild one.”
My love of rats is so complete that I sometimes forget that not everyone loves them. Most people dislike them, and many people are afraid of or revolted by them.
The same people who might think nothing of a rescued street dog or feral cat (my dog Rusty is a street dog, as is my cat Moe) or even the rehabilitation of wild animals such as deer or raccoons, might not even CONSIDER the idea of rescuing a wild rat.
Generally there are not a lot of wild rats to be rescued. The one that are not killed by other animals or by traps and poision are usually REALLY good at hiding from you.
There are, however, TONS of homeless rats out there that need homes. There are even orginizations the specifically resuce rats. Places such as:
Kims Ark
Rattie Ratz Rescue Resource and Referral
Rat Chick Rat Rescue (see also the Rat Chick Myspace)
Even Petfinder.org has TONS of rats listed needing friendly, loving forever homes. To search for a rat needing ah ome in your area search under Small & Furry with Rat as the breed.
Some rats needing rescuing right now include:
July 1st, 2008 at 11:57 am
I absolutely love animals, but would not have considered rescuing a wild rat. It’s blogs like yours that make me realize that anything you can do is a reduction in suffering- a wild rat has feelings just like my spoiled, pampered cats do. Thanks for the reminder.