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Hi everyone :-)
Just thought I'd report that the
Tasmanian AusRFS rat and mouse event at the Royal Hobart Show this year
was a great success :-)
We had a lot of rats available for
cuddles and pats, and some on display doing their ratty thing (running
around on the table, fishing for peas, and sleeping!). Thousands of
people came through, probably tens of thousands, and many discovered
rats for the first time. We had a lot of people come and say that they
were afraid of rats, but after talking with us and looking at our rats,
many actually found they could pat them, and went away feeling happier
about rats, which is wonderful! I was surprised at how many elderly
ladies thought they were really fantastic! We had some of the usual
negative responses and stupid jokes, but the vast majority of people
responded really well to our display and our ratties.
Thanks to the hardworking boys and
girls who let thousands of Hobartians pet their furry selves, your
dedication to the ratty cause is exemplary ;-)
Suzi's fuzzlets did a fantastic
job, probably just to spite Suzi, who thought they'd be cranky!
Annette's two 2 year old boys were amazing, and were very popluar
(though often mistaken for guinea pigs, they're so huge!). Jane's new
babies were a delight, and softened many hardened hearts :-) And my
girls, well, they put up with the pats without tooooo much girly
wriggling :-) By young boys were popular for their cute ways of
sleeping, one fell asleep hanging over a shelf, and nearly fell
headfirst in the waterbowl :-) I made a joke that they were dead, and
someone believed me! (oops!).
The part that really meant
something to me personally was being able to help people with their
ratty questions. The saddest moment was a girl who told me that her
friend had bought a rat from the pet shop, and after she was told it was
a boy, it gave birth to thirteen babies. (That's not the really bad
part, she was actually the 4th person at the show with the same story,
from the same pet shop - Grrrrr). She wanted to know why they were
suddenly all dying, she said they were 5 weeks old, were weaned last
week, and they had just started to go all cold and then they died. I was
wondering what on earth it could be, when it struck me to ask what they
were being fed. She said "bread soaked in water". Oh. No wonder they
were dying, white bread and water is no kind of food for growing babies.
They must have been dying of malnutrition. So we armed her with
information and a sample of our food, and she hurried off to tell her
friend. They were so innocent, thinking they were doing the best for
their rats, but unknowingly killing them. That made me want to cry. Some
people have absolutely no idea with animals. :-( It was good to be
able to help so many people though, we had questions about housing,
feeding, breeding, and behaviour problems. I think that was the best
part about being there.
The ratty show itself went very
well, it was good fun, and the highlight of the show was Suzi's 2 1/2
year old Cassia eating peas in record time - three in 14 seconds :-)
What a machine!
Heartfelt thanks go out to everyone
involved, and to our beloved ratties, who have had enough pats now to
last them the rest of their lives ;-) |
~
September Skies
~
