God help me where do I even start....

[jorats]

Your three certainly have hit the jackpot.
I hope the others are ok. Sad to think of their fate.

 

[lilspaz68]

Your boys may be getting injuries because they are not used to cages. I sometimes find neglected rats end up with sprained legs, etc while working out how to live in cages.

They are very very lucky and handsome fellows. :heart:

 

[littledevils]

Last night it didn't look good at all and we all pretty much started to lick our battle wounds.

This morning things are looking up.

Animal Control now knows that we are there. They are still trapping though things have considerably slowed down. I believe they trapped 35 so far.

The property manager/owner has given the city until Friday and then they'll just poison/fumigate. Which to be honest I'm surprised they didn't do all along as that's what was done with other hoarding cases we were involved with. So with all the crappy stuff going on... they do deserve some credit for that.

We might have e-spays lined up through a shelter down there

The shelter got 12 rats in so far and she said that we should make plans to come and pick up rats on the weekend

Fenshae might have found somebody to foster until Travis can make it down on the weekend if the shelter is being difficult again.

We've often gotten our hopes up only to be smacked down so I'm not even going to do that anymore until we actually have them.

 

[jorats]

That's some good news Simone. thanks!

 

[lilspaz68]

The up and down of rescue situations like this can burn you out fast. I never take a truly deep breath until the rat(s) are in my hands. Fingers crossed for this situation to work out well for everyone. You rock. :bow:

 

[fenshae]

Shelagh -- I bet you're right, they probably have a lot of adjusting to do with the cage and are bruising/scratching themselves on the bars. They're all currently snoozing in a big pocket hammie and I didn't want to disturb them to get a look at Locke's foot, but hopefully he's ok. I'll pester him later.

I've never fully lost hope on this situation. Call me an optimist, but I just think it's all going to work out somehow...at least, as best we can.

It's looking like with the numbers that seem to be coming in we may be able to take ALL of these new drops XD

 

[lj]

You guys are doing a great job! :hugs:

 

[littledevils]

Things are looking really good right now :dance:

 

[Randomrat]

*is thinking happy thoughts*

 

[Joanne]

Wow, my hat is off to you all for your continuing efforts in saving these ratties! I hope, hope, hope you can save the rest! Sending positive vibes your way...

 

[fenshae]

If all goes well tomorrow will be the last day they have to stay in the shelter. I've really loved the opportunity to meet so many great people over the course of this operation, and to have a chance to save so many rats, but I will be SO GLAD when it's all behind me. I'm thinking I might write an article about the experience (including or limiting information about any various people involved as they wish, of course) and pitch it to a few animal welfare magazines. I think it's important for the world to see the best of humanity -- and the way people can go to huge lengths to save the smallest and (for many) least-lovable of animals. Honestly, in a way I suspect part of the reason the shelter has been so baffled about our action (and made so many boneheaded mistakes in the way it was handled with the press and such) is because this sort of thing doesn't happen in Las Cruces. If a similar effort had been mastheaded by someone to save some of those 70 puppies dumped at the shelter in January, things would have worked out much differently and there'd be a lot more happy puppies than dogs slowly growing to adulthood in the overflow housing of the pound.

But anyway. I digress, I'm just feeling oddly pensive about this whole situation today. It's really strange the way things pop up in your life, and how the simple act of answering a phone call can make such an enormous impact in so many lives. The writer in me is definitely inspired by the experience. (incidentally I'm glad that when you google my name, the first hit is still one of my publications....rat-related stories are further down the page XD)

My boyfriend and I were discussing the situation a few days ago. He's always been very supportive of my rats and has never denied me anything that would make me happy, but he's just not a huge rat fan. He's not as scared of them as he was when we first started dating, and he has a few favorites amongst my boys, but overall he's not the type of guy to spend his free time rehoming rodents...and well, that's fair. Anyway, we were talking about it and he said something that really spoke to the core of the situation and public opinion, and explains some of those awful bone-headed comments on all the news stories and whatnot.

He was saying it was hard to grasp the fact that these three rats had been running around loose in a house. That they were, as he called them, "house rats" (aka, wild rats, a rat infestation -- the rats you lay out traps for), and now they're "pet rats", and the notion was a little hard for him to swallow. In his eyes (as well as the eyes of 90% of the people interviewed on the news or posting comments on the online news), if a rat's in a cage, it's a pet rat; if it's running loose, it's a wild rat. So as far as he's concerned (again, like most regular people), his girlfriend just willingly invited three wild rats into the house; of course he'd be a little worried not just for me, but for all of our other pets! It obviously wouldn't occur to him that there's a huge genetic difference, and that these "fancy rats" have been selectively bred for a few hundred years so that they're a completely different breed. There's a difference between taking in a feral cat and a bobcat, and this is the same sort of thing.

Anyway. Like I said, the writer half of my brain is churning away and figuring out how to process this whole experience in a useful way. Don't mind me waxing philosophical over here....

 

[littledevils]

LOL Tiana you beat me to :lol2:

I was just going to post the good news... we are going to pull ratties tomorrow! :joy:
(Unless something goes wrong and so far everything that can go wrong, did go wrong... but enough bad luck already pls!!!)

And Tiana - I was just talking to a few friends of mine and I jokingly said that I so need to write a book about what it is to get down and dirty and do animal rescue.... not armchair rescuing but the down and dirty crazy stuff. They thought I should totally take notes for my memoirs hahahaha

But you're right... we've seen it almost all in this rescue.. the good and the bad.

Anyway, between LMR, RatsPacNW folks, a rescue in California we worked with before a few yrs back during the Petaluma hoarding case and Travis we have spots for about 60. At the moment there's 30 at the shelter. Today is the last day of trapping, then the landlord wants to be done and over with it. So the house will probably get fumigated/put poison out.

The trapping has been rather slow, 5 more came in this morning.

Tomorrow 2 local peeps will pull all the rats and hold them until Sunday when Travis can fly down and pick them up.

They will then be fostered in Northern NM mostly by Travis and Lynn. LMR has e-spays lined up.

In July Travis will then fly to WA for the rats destined for LMR/RatsPacNW peeps.

Sure has been a crazy rescue full of ups and downs

 

[PitLuvs]

I'm only just reading this now, but I did get a glimpse on the CRA. My gawd I'm balling in tears here. So many beautiful white ratties, I could crawl into that cage and play all day. And now, they're gone I hope everything works out and you guys can pull the remaining ones. You are very hard working people, and I hope someday to show even an inch of dedication to animals out there that you do. THANK YOU!!

 

[fenshae]

Haha Simone -- careful about "armchair rescue", I think I resemble that remark considering I've done almost all of this from my recliner, hahaha. But I know what you mean.

 

[littledevils]

LOL Hey, you actively did stuff even from your armchair LOL

I wasn't actually referring to this particular case or anybody on here... Just here in BC we have a lot of ppl who sit on the sidelines and criticize everything you do... ie "Oh no, how could you do e-spays and kill those poor babies". And then you ask if they want to foster the litter instead until they get adopted and they quickly disappear.

 

[fenshae]

hehe yeah like I said, I know what you meant Nothing drives me crazier than someone who's willing to criticize your honest efforts, and then have the audacity not to offer a solution. If there's one thing I've been taught my whole life, be it in writing or any other part of life, it's "don't complain unless you have a helpful suggestion for improvement" and I think more people could stand to follow that too.

 

[littledevils]

31 rats are safe.

 

[victoria]

:joy: Great work!

 

[Randomrat]

That's awesome!

 

[Slapdash]

:joy: great job! :thumbup: