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Before you read this: Felicity is my guard rat. She hates men and has bitten a few. (no blood) oops
So, I found this little hole-in-the-wall pet store in my city. It was humid and hot and small. When I walked in (with Felicity on my shoulder) they had just got a new shipment of live feeder rats. Some of the rats, the ones who looked kind of healthy, were put into tiny wire cages with no enrichment. The ones with visible cuts, hair loss, or tumors were sentenced to a much worse fate.
I was looking at the scared PEW ratties in the wire cages, forcing myself to not bring one home, when this teenage boy came out of a back room with a plastic bin full of ratties. The boy sat on a stool facing an open freezer. He grabbed one rat by the tail and swung the rat in circle and let go so that it landed in the freezer. It was dreadful. I heard the rattie's poor body hit the freezer and it screamed. The boy grabbed another rattie out of the bin...
I marched right up to that boy and grabbed the poor rat out of his grasp. I was about to land a punch on the boys face when Felicity leaps off of my shoulder and into the lap of the boy. He squirms and tries to shake her off, but Felicity is already halfway up his shirt. She climbs up and onto his shoulder where she takes a big bite of his earlobe. I grab Felicity and leave the establishment in a rush.
I immediately called Animal Services, but they couldn't "do anything about it" because the rats were just feeders and were supposed to die in that freezer anyway. As I was calling, the boy called the police and the city sent one police officer to arrest me and take Felicity away. But, thankfully, the officer had a heart and a cage full of loved rats at home. The officer inspected the establishment and told the owner that the rats had to be "humanely euthanized" before being put in the freezer. He also stated that the live rats needed larger cages and enrichment. The boy is currently doing 30 days of community service in an animal shelter.
So, Felicity and I won!
So, I found this little hole-in-the-wall pet store in my city. It was humid and hot and small. When I walked in (with Felicity on my shoulder) they had just got a new shipment of live feeder rats. Some of the rats, the ones who looked kind of healthy, were put into tiny wire cages with no enrichment. The ones with visible cuts, hair loss, or tumors were sentenced to a much worse fate.
I was looking at the scared PEW ratties in the wire cages, forcing myself to not bring one home, when this teenage boy came out of a back room with a plastic bin full of ratties. The boy sat on a stool facing an open freezer. He grabbed one rat by the tail and swung the rat in circle and let go so that it landed in the freezer. It was dreadful. I heard the rattie's poor body hit the freezer and it screamed. The boy grabbed another rattie out of the bin...
I marched right up to that boy and grabbed the poor rat out of his grasp. I was about to land a punch on the boys face when Felicity leaps off of my shoulder and into the lap of the boy. He squirms and tries to shake her off, but Felicity is already halfway up his shirt. She climbs up and onto his shoulder where she takes a big bite of his earlobe. I grab Felicity and leave the establishment in a rush.
I immediately called Animal Services, but they couldn't "do anything about it" because the rats were just feeders and were supposed to die in that freezer anyway. As I was calling, the boy called the police and the city sent one police officer to arrest me and take Felicity away. But, thankfully, the officer had a heart and a cage full of loved rats at home. The officer inspected the establishment and told the owner that the rats had to be "humanely euthanized" before being put in the freezer. He also stated that the live rats needed larger cages and enrichment. The boy is currently doing 30 days of community service in an animal shelter.
So, Felicity and I won!
