Topic: rats/ morale dillema

[redimp]

2) It is not ethical to relocate them into a strange environment where they have no knowledge of food sources ,places of shelter, predator risk etc and where they may well be attacked by the local rat population who may well not welcome strangers. Relocating them in this way could (depending on interpretation) be illegal under the animals act as a practice likely to cause unusal suffering etc...

Some fair points, especially on the Tort issue and although I said more or less the same thing about town rats being killed by country rats, I think that it being interpreted by the courts as being illegal under the animals act as a practice likely to cause unusal suffering would be really stretching it. 

And sorry NR8, I did not mean to be curt. 

[jockomorrocco]

for me a couple of kettle fulls of boiling water and that would put an end to it.Not nice i know but quick

[betula]

It never fails to amaze me that some people think they have a god given right to inflict pain on living creatures. >:( >:( >:(

[silly billy]

All I can give is my opinion and view. I wouldn't dream of doing what some of the posts are advising to do but we are all different and each to their own. No worries Ollie. Thanks for replying.

[Columbus]

Hi NR8, Hi Dennis,

to use piosion or drown them is not humane,all animals deserve a humane death,

 :( I am aware of this but I`m at a loss to come up with something better.
I know a bloke who could shoot them and it would be a quick end but thats a rare skill.

Col
(35 years as a Vegetarian)

[OllieC]

It never fails to amaze me that some people think they have a god given right to inflict pain on living creatures. >:( >:( >:(

I don't think it's a right, betula, I think it's a hygienic essential; and I think it should be done as humanely as possible. And I don't think it's given by god either, but that's a whole different discussion (I have a slight evolutionary advantage, my species invented morals & are therefore responsible)! It appears to be down to the following choices, in order of my preference:

1) Kill them quickly (my favourite)
2) Kill them slowly (release them elsewhere or boil them)
3) Let them live and let them risk the health of others until someone else kills them

I don't think you have the right to risk exposing your children & others to disease when there's a quick, simple solution, if we're talking morality...

[N8R]

yeah the erm  boiling water trick a little barbaric for my liking jockomorrocco but thanks for the reply anyway mate . the reason this has been a "morale dilemma " at all is that i have kept pet rats my self . there personality traits intelligence and behaviour can be quite remarkable . im no soft lad but i freely admit i was heart broken when my last rat died. anyway d day for the rat family approaches thanks to all for the posts   n8r

[betula]

I know what you are saying Ollie but the boiling water remark made me a little bit cross. :)

[OllieC]

aha, well in that case, me old china (betula), we're in agreement... no need to hurt anything (more than essential) here... actually you know what, a kettle wouldn't hold enough to kill them, so it would just cause pain & not solve the problem, and by the second kettle full, the first would be too cold to be contributing to a quick death...

[thespade08]

It never fails to amaze me that some people think they have a god given right to inflict pain on living creatures. >:( >:( >:(

They shoot horses dont they??

[OllieC]

It never fails to amaze me that some people think they have a god given right to inflict pain on living creatures. >:( >:( >:(

They shoot horses dont they??

nope, rats do many things but they lack the manual dexterity to hold a gun...

[thespade08]

It never fails to amaze me that some people think they have a god given right to inflict pain on living creatures. >:( >:( >:(

They shoot horses dont they??

nope, rats do many things but they lack the manual dexterity to hold a gun...

RAT A TAT TAT,RAT A TAT TAT.....sound of a rat machine gun  ;D

[springbok]

 :o anyone remember the plague!!  :o :o :o :o :o :o

Amazed at all the "let them live" "creatures deserve life" etc...

I thought we were talking about Rats!!!..

My ex husband works on old stone buildings, and many dead rats are usually in the properties and between the cavity walls... they have to wear masks over their nose and mouths to protect themselves from disease etc until all of them are removed.

Just amazed at the above responses LOL.. sorry!!.   Dont condone animal cruelty before someone accuses me of that one, but its Rats!!!.. I dont get it!!  ??? ???

[denis trundle]

It never fails to amaze me that some people think they have a god given right to inflict pain on living creatures. >:( >:( >:(

They shoot horses dont they??

nope, rats do many things but they lack the manual dexterity to hold a gun...

RAT A TAT TAT,RAT A TAT TAT.....sound of a rat machine gun  ;D

;D ;D thats funny, If your not feeding em, they will of died of starvation by the time the rat man comes ;D ;D

[calendula]

:o anyone remember the plague!!  :o :o :o :o :o :o

we are all too young for that and that is wrong anyway - the rats just carried the fleas that caused the disease of the plagues

there isn't a species alive that doesn't carry disease and will pass it on to others who are susceptible but the human method is always to kill kill kill  >:(

[Baccy Man]

:o anyone remember the plague!!  :o :o :o :o :o :o

we are all too young for that and that is wrong anyway - the rats just carried the fleas that caused the disease of the plagues

Rats still carry the fleas that cause the disease.
When people think of the plague they only associate it with the second pandemic of Pasteurella Pestis that occurred during the Middle Ages (The Black Death) they forget that the third pandemic only ended in 1959 & even since then there have been small outbreaks of the disease. Although usually controlled by antibiotics in 1998 the first case of human plague that showed total resistance to all known antibiotics was reported in the US.
At present the plague is largely controlled throughout the world, but it remains endemic in some rural areas of Asia, South Africa, and South America. Sometimes, as in Vietnam during the 1960s, as a result of war conditions, it flares up into epidemic proportions.

[calendula]

of course you are right, didn't want to write a history lesson but just dispel some of the myths about rats and plagues - thanks  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

The fleas only transferred the disease from rat to human. They were a vital link in the chain, but it's essentially a rodent disease that infects humans as well.