Posted on 06/28/2006 8:21:27 PM PDT by SmithL
PETALUMA -- Rat lovers were furious Wednesday that a Petaluma animal shelter had euthanized more than 1,000 of the rodents taken last week from a man who had been hoarding the creatures inside his home.
Roger Dier, 67, was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty last week after animal control officers found hordes of squealing rats inside his dingy one-bedroom house in Petaluma. Nancee Tavares, the city's Animal Services manager, had promised to find homes for as many rats as possible but admitted Wednesday that some 1,020 of them had to be put down.
"We euthanized all of the adults except the ones we have to keep on quarantine because they bit staff," she said. "They weren't social. I would call them feral. We found many with eyeballs missing, teeth growing into the opposite jaw, huge abscesses with open wounds. Some were starving."
Rat fanciers, who had formed an e-mail chain called "petalumarats" in an attempt to find homes for the rodents, were horrified. The shelter was bombarded Wednesday with angry phone calls and e-mails. Most members of the rat lobby felt they had been misled.
"This is an unspeakable injustice to those rats who deserved better," Phyllis Mason, a self-described rat lover, wrote in an e-mail. "Why didn't the Petaluma Animal Shelter give us a chance to help? I cannot imagine that all of those rats were ill. It seems to me that they felt overwhelmed and just didn't want to bother with them."
Tina Bird, of Campbell, said the rat community was in the process of mobilizing when the rodents were killed.
"Maybe they would have been better advised to leave the animals in their horrible conditions until we, the rat community, had a few days to get moving,"...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
non-citizens,
located in California,
but they're still likely to vote for Harold Ford, Jr., in Memphis.
Must have been homosexual rats.
Well, some years ago there was an isolated report about a pet rat awakening its owner at night and saving his [owner's] family from a fire in their house. This, I suppose, was an honorary rat, and its actions reflect and bring a measure of credit. But 1000 poorly kept ones?
How many lawyers did they say died?A 1000 is just a start!
ewwwwww!!
Harold Ford 'you dirty rat'!!
Furious Rat Lovers Ping
You woke me over some rats?
I'll return the favor!
Thought we were talking about a bunch of Demorats
Willard wouldn't mind.
Rush is talking about this right now! LOL! :)
Damn, that was a lot of Odin food.
A bit early for the DNC Convention isn't it?
I'll bet the same people who cry for these rats protest outside abortion clinincs.
Eeeewwwwww...skin crawling here!!
This place is driving me nuts.
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