Giving Tuesday: Rat Edition
If you’ve spent any time with me, you know I love rats. I tend to love animals that others don’t, often animals considered to be “pests” because these animals are actually very clever survivors. Rats are one of them, though the reason I love rats is that I’ve had them as pets.
If one could design the perfect pet, rats would almost be it. They’re a wonderful combination of all the best parts of dogs and cats, with some very special rat-only traits that push them to the top of the list.
The biggest downside is that their lives are short, very short. Domestic rats/fancy rats/pet rats live 2-3 years. Some people have reported beloveds who lived to four and five years. A rat’s life goes quickly for human and rat. Every 10 days is roughly equal to a year.
Rat lovers say the life of a rat burns short because they burn so bright. Or that they're here for a good time, not a long time. They're a shooting star in the form of a little furry one that is absolutely adorable in every way.
Having a rat changes the course of one’s life.
Second Chance Heroes
This is what happened to a local Richmond teen. Once she had pet rats, she became determined to help as many rats as possible, and formed her non-profit, Second Chance Heroes. She takes rescues, unwanted (domestic) rats and retired lab rats.
Retired lab rats are a speciality in Richmond. The University of Richmond made international news in 2019 with their studies of rat driving cars.
Lab rats that are physically experimented on don’t survive (and usually die in horrifically painful, gruesome ways). Lab rats kept for psychological experiments often can be retired from the lab to live out their lives as rats instead of subjects.
I’m not saying that Second Chance Heroes gets their lab rats solely from the University of Richmond, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve gotten more than a few from there.
If you’d like to help support Second Chance Heroes take care of and rehome rats, you can donate directly through Square or Paypal, or purchase items from their Amazon giftlist. They even have a small online store with a few items, like hoodies.
As a former rat-owner, I can assure you the food and cleaning supplies are a never-ending need, especially if you have more than a couple rats under your care. They are a 501c3.
APOPO HeroRATS
An African rat, the Gambian pouched rat, has also been making international news as HeroRATS. They are larger rats with much longer lives (6-8 years), which means they get the chance to have a solid career.
It turns out that rats make excellent landmine detectors, and their small size and natural quickness means they can clear a field in 30 minutes. Dogs take longer, and are heavier. Humans take longer still and are at higher risk of accidentally setting off a mine. Rats have a sense of smell as keen as a dog, only along shorter distances. This makes them ideal for landmine detection, or knowing when you start making dinner. They’re being used in Cambodia and neighboring African countries like Angola.
The Gambian rats are also trained in detecting tuberculosis. They’re cheaper and more accurate than human lab examiners, and much, much faster. That’s how good their sense of smell really is. (I don't know why they aren't being used in more lab work, instead of as subjects.)
Recently, they’ve started experimental training in search and rescue operations after earthquakes. Rats are small and flexible, able to squeeze through rubble without disturbing it, to find pockets where survivors are trapped. This program is only in its starting phases but I’m sure that earthquake rats will start being used as needed.
It’s very easy to donate to support the HeroRATS in Africa. You can offer a monetary donation, pay for necessary rat care, or adopt a rat! Bakara is a young cutie who’s my choice for adoption. 🙂
The donation page offers a breakdown of how exactly your donation will be spent. This is a reputable NGO, and has done the paperwork for allowing tax deductions for donations in the US.
I’m not offering anything in exchange for your donation. You don’t have to donate in my name, or show me proof of your donation for any reason (though if you adopt a rat I’d love to see the adoption packet!). Both of these orgs are established and have a mission that resonates with me, organizations I discovered only after a lot of searching on specific topics. I bet you’ve not come across either before.
If you’re in a Giving Tuesday mood, and would like to put your donation to sincere efforts, either locally or globally, give these two organizations your consideration, or suggest them at your work. Both have fully-informative websites to answer your questions. They center rats, a heavily-stigmatized creature that doesn’t deserve the hatred it gets.
Like rats, small amounts go a long way with these organizations. Popular causes are popular, and well-supported. I tend to like the smaller causes, the ones that are easily overlooked. They do the most with the least. A generous donation is going to make a much larger impact than the same donation to orgs that already get million-dollar grants or have six-figure staff salaries to pay.
And you help make the world a better place for rats. That’s the best part of all...in my humble, rat-loving opinion.
PS: If you'd like to enjoy some cute rat photos, and extremely interesting stories of how individual rats really are, visit the Tribute page at Second Chance Heroes.