5 Reasons Why You Should Care About Rats

Last Friday, the owner and
the former manager of Global Captive Breeders, LLC (GCB),
a rodent and reptile breeder and dealer in Lake Elsinore, California, were
arrested and charged with
more than 200 total counts of felony cruelty to animals following a two-month PETA undercover investigation at GCB
that led to the rescue of more than 16,000 rats and hundreds of reptiles. Not only was this the
largest seizure of animals in California history, it also was the largest
rescue of neglected rats in U.S. history.

Rats don’t always get
a fair shake, but authorities in this case rightly treated their abuse with the
gravity it deserved. We’d like to see a lot more people treat rats with more kindness
and consideration, and here are five reasons why:

1.      They
giggle.

When Dr. Jaak Panksepp,
professor of veterinary and comparative anatomy at Washington State University
in Pullman, tickled rats’
tummies, they laughed in high-pitched chirps that are inaudible to human ears without
special equipment.  

 2.     
They help each other out.

In a study conducted at the
University of Chicago, rats responded to other rats’ cries of distress
and let them out of an uncomfortable tube, even if it meant forgoing a food
reward to do so.

 3.     
They have superpowers.

Rats have an extremely wide range of vision and can move their eyes independently of one
another. In essence, they have eyes in the back of their heads.

 4.     
They can
learn tricks (and so can mice). 

Rats and mice are so smart that they can recognize
their names and respond when called.

 5.      They’re good mothers.

In The PETA Practical
Guide to Animal Rights, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk writes about a woman who recalled
watching a mother rat groom her babies and teach them to shell the
peanuts that the woman left out for them and to dart and run if danger
approached. The mother rat dipped the babies’ paws in water and smoothed the
fur around their ears and faces while they obediently sat still with their arms
around their mother’s neck.

© Jessica Florence, Lion

Ready
to fight for rats’ rights? Visit our animal experimentation and wildlife
pages to find out what you can do to help.