Yesterday I gathered up my kids and headed off to the Monadnock Humane Society Shelter. We are the official "Volunteer Rat Handlers" there.
I can hear the "eeeeuws" from here.
I am not a rat person. At least, I didn't used to be. What happened was, we visited the shelter during their annual bunny event around Easter time. Remember Bubble the Bad Bunny? We were looking for advice on how to better manage our demon rabbit. (Actually, we were secretly hoping to be rescued ourselves from the wild little thing.)
Instead, we found a new calling.
There in a room full of happy people hugging vaguely anxious bunnies, we found a cage of frantic rats. Not a rat hugger in sight. We said (predictably), "Eeeuw!" One of the shelter employees sighed, "Yeah, no one ever plays with the rats..."
Well, that did it. I'm a sucker for an under-appreciated animal species. "I'll hold a rat!" I exclaimed.
And for the very first time in my life, I held a rat.
They ARE a little nerve-racking. They're a lot bigger than mice, they definitely aren't as soft as bunnies, and they sometimes get a little ferocious around food. Their eyesight isn't good, so fingers stuck in their faces tend to get tentatively "tasted" for food potential. Not hard—just off-putting if you aren't prepared for it. And their tails....oh, dear.
But I was determined to try it. They just looked so wistful in their cage. And when I heard their story, my heart totally melted. Someone had left the entire litter of young ones to freeze to death in a local city park around Christmas. Fortunately, someone found them and turned them in to the shelter. I don't care how much you dislike rats, that's just not right. These little guys deserved better.
So I took the volunteer training and committed to working in the Small Animal room there. Lured by promises of holding bunnies, my kids usually join me, sometimes accompanied by the odd friend or two.
It's funny, but rats grow on you. They DO look like giant mice, or very small polar bears. Most of their skittishness comes from fear—they are TERRIFIED of us giants, especially our hands. But they grow more gentle with handling, and now they clamber over each other to get their turn.
They love to have their faces gently tickled and their ears rubbed. Full body strokes send them into trance-like states. Sometimes when you coo at them, their little upturned faces are as grateful and devoted as a dog's.
As for their tails, when you get past the initial "eeeeuw!" stage, they turn out to be marvels of organic engineering. They can be almost as prehensile as a monkey's tail, something you discover when you try to take the rat out of its cage and he frantically wraps his tail around the door.
Soon the kids and I were making weekly visits to hold and socialize their guinea pigs, rats and rabbits at the shelter.
We hope to work our way up to ferrets soon.
In our busy life, why do we choose to do this? Because working with animals is very calming. Because it's a wonderful thing to show kids how important volunteer work is. Because volunteering is always more enjoyable when you like the work. And it's a great opportunity to simply hang with your kids and talk--VERY important in the teen years.
Do yourself, your kids, and some worthwhile group a favor this week. Find a way to volunteer--together.
Take a chance, take on one of those three risks I spoke about a few weeks ago--hold a rat today!
