Who did it?? :)

[Dragons & Balls]

I saw a story on Global yesterday. Seems as though there are loose Rats in Calgary in one certain neighbourhood. So my question is

Who let the Rats out?

lol

[Ron]

What neighborhood were they in?

[gonesnakee]

I'm sure no one will be stepping up to that right away as they are illegal to have here live. More bad press for the herping community. As Ron has already asked, name a neighbourhood & chances are the "reptile community" will know which herper is responsible & can deal with them privately. Mark

[Greg West]

Originally posted by Chris Bilou on the TARAS Mailing list

By now many of you may have heard of the 37 live rats caught and destroyed in an Acadia alley. Bylaw services and the province is suspecting they they belonged to a snake-oner that was breeding them as food....no suspects yet, but prepare for fallout (you can imagine the potential bad press nd backlash on this one). I will be contacting bylaw services and the newspapers on behalf of the TARAS legal office, assuring them that we do not in any way condone the keeping or breeding of live rats, are strongly against destructive, invasive species, and will assist them in any way possible.

G. A. Christian Bilou
TARAS legal co-ordinator

[Greg West]

Chris should be on QR77 between 5-5:30 to talk about this. Seems to be bringing a lot of media attention where we don't need it. I hope that it is not reptile related, but all the news media have already blamed it one that.

Just what we needed before the show.

Greg

[gonesnakee]

Here's a link to some stories I just recv. from friends, Mark

http://news.google.ca/news?hl=en&ned...TF-8&scoring=d

[Invictus]

I commend Christian Bilou for his RAPID response to this. First the rats - next a ban on anything that eats them. I have never been more worried about the future of boids in this province.

[gonesnakee]

Who do we know that lives in Acadia is the question??? I'm hating this already too we just had the phone book out checking the addresses of the people quoted in the articles. I have a friend (non herper) that lives in Acadia who was quite concerned & curious as to who I might know that may live in the neighbourhood & the exact area of Acadia in question. Mark
P.S. I live in the Southwood 'hood' & no rats here!

[Toirtis]

Originally posted by gonesnakee
Who do we know that lives in Acadia is the question???

Nobody, as far as we can tell. I have a number of reasons to believe that the rats, whether escaped or released, belonged to someone breeding them as pets for the underground market (a hell of a lot more profitable at $20-$30/rat vs. $3-$5/rat as feeders). That being said, the connection between rats and snake-owners has already been made in the media, so damage-control is quite critical at this point.

This is what went out to the papers today:

In response to the story "Live rats dumped in city alley", 04.09.21; I would like to assure the Province of Alberta, City of Calgary, and the citizens of our city that both The Alberta Reptile and Amphibian Society, and Reptile Rescue Alberta support the laws of our province, condemn the keeping/breeding of any live rats in this province, and understand how serious the potential introduction of a destructive, invasive species such as the common or Norway rat could be. Both organisations hope for a swift and satisfactory completion to this investigation, and would like to offer any assistance that we can in this matter.

G. A. Christian Bilou
Director, Reptile Rescue Alberta
Legislative Co-Ordinator, T.A.R.A.S.

I have reason to believe that the authorities have a lead or two, and both point towards pet rat keepers...so cross your fingers on this one, as even if it is pet rats, there could still be some exotic backlash.

[Scales Zoo]

I liked how you put it on the pet rat keepers / breeders in the article I read. Well done!

I hope this is just bad timing, and not an act of malice or something.

Speaking of coincidental timing.....

Last Monday met with a Lawyer and then attended a R.M meeting, about a rat producer in this province being shut down. All went very well, and the many of the R.M. people actually had common sense, which prevailed in the end.

Anyhow.... Something interesting brought up was that college students used to let rats go in downtown Calgary as a college stunt. This was used to show that they don't survive, as downtown calgary is an excellent place for rats to live - which all of us Saskatchewan folk had a bit of a laugh over. But, what I also remembered, was being told about someone from B.C who used to let rats go at every TARAS show about 3 or 4 years back.
Here are some articles I've read

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...62/?hub=Canada

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2...638222-cp.html

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...ta_040921.html

http://edmonton.cbc.ca/regional/serv...d_rats20040921

http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgar...a-df08571ff6cc

Ryan

[Toirtis]

Originally posted by Scales Zoo
I liked how you put it on the pet rat keepers / breeders in the article I read. Well done!

Well, rat-keepers being blamed may only be slightly better for herp people....there is still the possibility of reactive legislation on part of the city that could affect everyone.

I actually have a number of reasons to suspect a pet-rat breeder...not just the financial viability of such an operation, but the colours of the rats, along with the fact that if they were dumped, a pet-rat breeder would more likely have dumped them alive than simply euthanised then frozen them (as one would assume a feeder-breeder would have no qualms doing). I have since learned of some unpublished leads that seem to be pointing in the direction of a local underground subculture of rat-keepers.

[Scales Zoo]

Also, wasn't the university's rat permit pulled either because....

a) students let rats go as a stunt

b) some that weren't fully dead yet, were sent out in the trash and thrived at the Calgary dump?

c) both above are true

One of the articles mentions their fear that some will make it to the dump, which makes me wonder if it isnt' b or c.

Ryan

[Scales Zoo]

Originally posted by Toirtis
I have since learned of some unpublished leads that seem to be pointing in the direction of a local underground subculture of rat-keepers.

When they came for the jews......

Ryan

[Cruciform]

And what exactly are these "unpublished leads"?

Next thing we're going to hear that it was members of the Chinese community smuggling rats in for exotic dishes.

If you don't have REAL evidence to back up your claims, keep your slanderous mouth shut. It isn't helping ANYBODY to throw blame around.

[Derrick]

Originally posted by Cruciform
Next thing we're going to hear that it was members of the Chinese community smuggling rats in for exotic dishes.

lol you stole my line. People alway ask me what the rats are for an my first response is chinese food. Except the pinky mice...they're for popcorn chicken