A woman living in her van near Del Mar in San Diego, California (street living, is now a major issue in many US cities), wanted some company so had obtained two pet rats, as they took up little space and cost little to feed.
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| The Unnamed 'Rat' Lady |
However the two rats were a boy and a girl, and nature took its normal course and four weeks later a litter was born.
Rats breed every four
weeks or so, and healthy litters can be up to a dozen at a time. The woman was
quickly overwhelmed, and by the 8th of October 2019 the authorities had
stepped in and seized 320 live rats all living in the woman's van. The
rats had clawed into the upholstery, burrowed into the seats and chewed
on the engine wiring (rendering the van inoperative).
The woman
acknowledged that matters had gotten out of control ... she told Humane Society officers she was very sorry matters with her
pet rats had gotten out of control. She wanted help and agreed to turn
them over.
Humane Officer Cook said that. “This was not a cruelty case, this was a relinquishment, an owner asking for help,” Cook said, adding that the woman was not hoarding the animals. She was feeding all of them, had water for all of them. This didn’t meet the standards of hoarding.”
Because she had handled many of the rats on a daily basis, eventually some 140 of the
rats were later deemed suitable for adoption as pets, at $5 per same-gender pair. (As social animals, rats are usually adopted out in pairs).
The unnamed woman
was able to find a new place to live, but took no rats.
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