Another rat believed to have been found in rat-free Alberta

CALGARY – It could be a rogue vermin or – as some officials fear – travelling in a pack.

Either way, it appears the rodent Dan Reiter said he found in his garage this week is indeed a rat.

Phil Merrill, Alberta’s top rat catcher, said several photographs of the rodent caught rooting about Reiter’s Calgary garage appears to be a roof rat.

He suspects it likely came from Vancouver and hopes it didn’t have company.

Staff from the city’s Animal Bylaw Services intended to pick up the rodent carcass Friday night with an official saying they had yet to confirm it is a rat.

Reiter, who describes the rodent as nearly the length of his size 10 shoe, said he first suspected some critter was about a week ago in the attached garage of his southeast home.

He never thought a rat might be the culprit.

“I heard scurrying and chewing,” he said Friday.

Several days after putting down mouse traps with no bites, Reiter said the offender made a brief appearance.
“I saw it scurry down the wall, no one believed me when I told them how big it was,” he said.

He said he couldn’t either, especially when he got an up-close encounter with the rodent who he suspected took rat bait he put along the perimeter of his garage before ending up dead on the floor.

There were six rats found in Calgary last year, some suspected to have come in on transport trucks and other found to be illegal pet rats which got loose.

Merrill, a veteran rat and pest specialist with the province, is anxious to learn more about apparent recent rat find in Calgary.

He suspects it is a roof rat – in essence the underdog to the more popular Norway rat – but like any rat a potential threat to humans.

“It is a very dirty animal and a disease threat,” he said.
Merrill said Reiter’s apparent rat find might well be an accidental tourist from B.C. given it’s not uncommon for rats to make it to Calgary – which boasts as being rat-free along with the rest of Alberta – in everything from food trucks from California to a lumber trucks from B.C.

Either way, he said the priority will be to find out if there’s more.

Article source: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/01/20130104-204459.html

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats

Kate’s farm: The rescue dog

Two weeks earlier we had driven from our new home in the Wye Valley to the
RSPCA centre at Newport. We had wanted a dog for years, but our lives in
London had made it impossible and we had had to be content with pet rats
instead. Rats make surprisingly clever pets, but now that we had a garden
surrounded by farmland, and woods and walks in every direction, it seemed
the ideal time to make the move from Roland to Rover.

Animal rescue centres are gloomy places. However dedicated the staff, or clean
the facilities, there is no escaping the fact that you are going to see rows
of creatures that have been abandoned, mistreated, or are simply unwanted.
We walked along the enclosures, past Staffies, rottweilers, yappy little
terriers and sad-eyed old faithfuls – dogs of every shape, size and
age. ‘It’s impossible,’ I whispered to Ludo. ‘How do you even begin to
choose?’ ‘This is your dog, right here,’ he said.

We had come to a kennel where a small, scruffy black and white mongrel was
jumping up and down repeatedly, as if to say, ‘Pick me! Pick me!’ We
stopped; he kept bouncing. ‘You’re right,’ I said, ‘he’s the one.’

Elaine, the centre manager, looked at us questioningly. ‘You’re really
interested in Junior? He’s been with us for months. No one wants him.’
‘Why not?’ I asked, imagining she was going to reveal that behind his
cartoon-cuteness lurked a savage killer. ‘Too bouncy.’ Ludo and I looked at
each other. A too-bouncy dog! Who could resist? ‘What’s his history?’ ‘Not
very happy, I’m afraid,’ Elaine said. ‘He was rescued from a flat where he
was shut in a room and, from what we can gather, was rarely fed or let out.
All the white parts of his coat were stained yellow with urine and he
weighed under half what he does now, and he’s still underweight. The officer
who went to pick him up said he was the thinnest dog he’d ever seen that was
still alive. Do you want to meet him properly?’

The day came when we could pick him up. We’d had the requisite home check,
registered with a local vet and enrolled in dog-training classes. Clutching
a brand new collar and lead I followed Elaine round to his kennel. We’d been
to visit him several times, and on Elaine’s advice, taken things from home
that would smell of us. I gathered up my old sweatshirt, a towel and a pair
of Ludo’s socks. ‘We’re going to change his name,’ I confessed. ‘That’s OK.
We don’t know what he was called before, so we just called him Junior for
our records.’ We walked to the car and I opened the boot. The dog
formerly-known-as-Junior stood looking bewildered. His bounce was gone. I
lifted him in and drove him to his new home. Over the course of the journey
he climbed from the boot to the back seat, cautiously moved to the front
seat, and then inched on to my lap, where he sat, surveying the landscape
over the top of the steering wheel. ‘Horatio!’ I said softly. Nothing.
‘Agamemnon!’ Not a stir.

‘I think we should call you Badger. It may not make you feel magnificent but
it won’t make me feel like a prat if I lose you on a walk.’

So Junior became Badger, the fourth dog with that name within three miles of
our house, we were to discover. So no marks for originality, but four years
down the line he is definitely magnificent – in a bouncy, scruffy sort of
way. katesfarm.org

Article source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/9028461/Kates-farm-The-rescue-dog.html

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats

Rataphooey! Norway rat found in Calgary, but believed to be pet

CALGARY – Officials with the City of Calgary are trying to figure out whether a badly decomposed rat in a found in a southeast neighbourhood Friday was a pet or came into the city on a truck.

Alberta prides itself on being rat-free, and has only seen isolated cases of the rodents since the 1950s. Pet rats are forbidden under provincial law and rat sightings are treated with the utmost urgency.

The discovery comes only days after Alberta’s agriculture minister announced that more than a dozen Norway rats were discovered and killed at the dump in Medicine Hat, Alta., which is a few hours drive east of Calgary. Following his announcement, dozens more have been found and killed at the Medicine Hat region’s landfill.

“We take this as a high priority for us, so if people have any thoughts that they’ve seen a rat, call us right away,” said Greg Steinraths, acting director of City of Calgary Animal and Bylaw Services.

The city says the rodent was collected by a bylaw officer after a resident found the rat near his property.

No other evidence of rat activity has been found in the area.

The neighbourhood will be monitored on an ongoing basis until bylaw officers are satisfied there are no more rats.

“Because it is located right by a major thoroughfare, our initial thought is that it is possibly off of a truck,” said Steinraths.

It’s possible to tell the difference between a pet rat and a feral rat based on the animal’s colouring, tail length and skull size, he said.

Calgary gets about 200 rat reports a year, only about four to six of which end up actually being the real thing.

“The majority of those that we go and investigate are muskrats, squirrels, chipmunks — you name it,” said Steinraths.

In Medicine Hat, bylaw officers who usually relocate bull snakes will now take the reptiles to the landfill in the hopes that they will eat the rats. That’s in addition to baited traps and high-definition trail cameras to track the scurrying scavengers.

Ed Jollymore, Medicine Hat’s waste manager, has said it’s all hands on deck to tackle the infestation and believes the media attention the rat problem is getting will help.

Alberta estimates its rat control measures have prevented what would have been $1 billion in rodent-caused damage over the last 50 years.

Agricultural fieldmen, known by Albertans as the “Rat Patrol,” eliminate invading rats within a control zone 600 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide along the province’s eastern boundary.

The province says one pair of rats can thrive and begin a chain of breeding that can produce as many as 15,000 offspring a year, as long as they are close to food and sheltered from the weather and predators.

Public education campaigns in Alberta routinely stress the importance of keeping the province rat-free. Members of the public are encouraged to learn to identify Norway rats and are urged to alert provincial officials if they spot one.

Article source: http://www.680news.com/news/national/article/393030--rataphooey-norway-rat-found-in-calgary-but-believed-to-be-pet

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats

Five Reasons Why a Rat May Be Your New Best Friend

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/five-reasons-why-a-rat-may-be-your-new-best-friend-2013-05-14

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats

Five Reasons Why a Rat May Be Your New Best Friend

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/five-reasons-why-a-rat-may-be-your-new-best-friend-2013-05-14

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats

Five Reasons Why a Rat May Be Your New Best Friend

Find Out More About These Surprisingly Cuddly, Social Animals at Petco(TM)'s Free, Family-Friendly "Meet the Critters" Event 
 

SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — While most people come home to curl up with their dogs or cats, an estimated 500 thousand Americans come home to pet rats. It may be surprising to learn that rats are rather social creatures and actually love to snuggle and crave company — either in the form of other rats or their lucky pet parents. To learn more about these great cuddle buddies and how to care for their physical, mental, social and emotional needs, attend any of the Petco(TM) free, family-friendly Meet the Critters events taking place nationwide May 18-19, 2013 from 1 p.m. — 2 p.m.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130429/MM03037)

Below are five reasons why rats make great companions:

   -- They're appreciative: While spending time with their pet parents, rats 
      may grind their teeth in something called "bruxing." Reasons for bruxing 
      are similar to why cats purr -- they're emotionally happy! 
 
   -- They're considerate: Rats have been known to travel in packs and like to 
      be socially engaged. They may even take care of their sick or injured 
      friends. 
 
   -- They're clean: Rats like to stay clean, and to keep physically fit they 
      will comb their hair and help a friend out at the same time by using 
      their teeth to help them stay attractive. 
 
   -- They're likely to remember pet parents: Rats have been kept as pets since 
      the early 19th century and are considered the most intelligent rodent for 
      being able to learn simple behaviors such as recognizing faces they see 
      often. Attendees of the family-friendly "Meet the Critters" event can 
      learn more about how to keep rats mentally alert. 
 
   -- They're engaging: Pet rats enjoy climbing up and down their habitats, but 
      they also enjoy out-of-cage time. Keep rats physically fit by allowing 
      them to run around in an exercise ball to get some energy out. 

Caring for rats can be a fun and unique experience! However, parental supervision is recommended for pet parents under 12. For more information on this month’s “Meet the Critters” event visit www.petco.com/kids.

About Petco

Petco is a leading pet specialty retailer that provides the products, services and advice that make it easier for our customers to be great pet parents. Everything we do is guided by our vision for Healthier Pets. Happier People. Better World. We operate more than 1,200 stores nationwide and in Puerto Rico, including more than 50 Unleashed by Petco locations, a smaller format neighborhood shop, and www.petco.com. The Petco Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, has raised more than $110 million since it was created in 1999 to help promote and improve the welfare of companion animals. In conjunction with the Foundation, we work with and support thousands of local animal welfare groups across the country and, through in-store adoption events, help find homes for more than 350,000 animals every year.

Contact:

Monica Vigo

619.501.2756

mvigo@west-pr.com

SOURCE Petco

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130514-909024.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats

Woman lived with thousands of rats in animal hoarding case

COCONINO COUNTY – Animal hoarding is on the rise in Arizona and while it’s usually dogs or cats that people collect in large numbers, one woman’s love for rats led her to keeping thousands of them in her home.

It happened in Coconino County and while health officials won’t name the woman involved, they say she had thousands of pet rats in her home, each one with its own special name.

“She knew that it had gotten out of control but she could not bring herself to deal with it,” Marlene Gaither says.

She is talking about thousands of rats a Coconino County woman called family. Gaither is with the Coconino County Public Health Services District and talked about the unusual case at a seminar at Arizona State University Wednesday.

“That many rats would go through several 50-pounds dog foods a night. Fifty-pound bags of dog food a night,” Gaither says.

She says the rats weren’t the only creatures the woman hoarded. She also kept large numbers of tarantulas and hissing cockroaches as roommates and her neighbors finally had enough.

“The homeowner’s association was having a problem with the smell from the house and this is a very respectable, nice neighborhood,” Gaither says.

She says a number of agencies had no choice but to join forces in getting rid of many of the rats, spiders and cockroaches and cleaning up the smelly, damaged home.

The home the woman shared with the rats, cockroaches and tarantulas was lost to foreclosure and Gaither says it was gutted and thoroughly cleaned. 

She also says if animal hoarders don’t get help, in 100 percent of the cases they go back to collecting animals.

This woman in Coconino County may be doing that now in another state.

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Article source: http://www.azfamily.com/news/Woman-lived-with-hundreds-of-rats-gave-126291088.html

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats

Infinite Crisis video stars Gaslight Joker, a cleaver wielding maniac with pet …

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Story by Stephany Nunneley

Fri, May 17, 2013 | 14:35 BST

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Infinite Crisis has revealed Gaslight Joker as its latest champion. The fella “butchers his opponents” with a bloody cleaver and swarms of rats who he hasn’t fed very well. This is what you will have to contend with when fighting the fella in the arena. Hit up the break for a look at his abilities in action. Infinite Crisis is out later this year on PC.

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Tags: Gaslight Joker, Infinite Crisis, turbine

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Article source: http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/17/infinite-crisis-video-stars-gaslight-joker-a-cleaver-wielding-maniac-with-pet-rats/

Tags: Pet, pet rat, pet rats, Pets, Rat..., Rats