FALLSTON, Md. — Charlie the rat may not be your typical shelter animal, but he has found a temporary home in the exotic wing of the Humane Society of Harford County — alongside a guinea pig, a rabbit and a bearded dragon.
Charlie arrived after a Good Samaritan brought him in. Erin Long, the shelter's marketing director, explained what happened next.
"We had a Good Samaritan come into the shelter one day with Charlie and said that he had found the rat. So what we do as part of our protocol is we post all of our lost and found pets on Facebook," Long said.
Despite the negative reputation rats often carry, shelter staff say domestic rats like Charlie deserve better.
Programs Coordinator Brittany Hasselbeck made the case for rats as pets.
"They're extremely clean pets. A lot of people think, you know, 'It's a rat. It's dirty.' They're highly, highly clean. They're always cleaning themselves. They keep their cages clean. You can actually litter box train them rather easily. They're highly intelligent animals. They're highly social so they make great pets for the whole family," Hasselbeck said.
There are some downsides to owning a rat. Their teeth never stop growing, which means they tend to chew things. They are also prone to respiratory infections and have a short lifespan — typically just two to three years.
The shelter takes in a number of pet rats each year. Charlie is currently sharing the exotic wing with "Trixie" the guinea pig, "Pearl" the rabbit and a bearded dragon named "Tiff" — a reminder that the Humane Society of Harford County sees far more than dogs and cats.
"So we have a bearded dragon over here named 'Tiff,' and, yes, we've had snakes, hissing cockroaches — anything that you can legally have as a pet in Maryland, we've probably seen it here at the shelter," Long said.
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