What to do with 1,000 rats?

New owners sought for critters taken from one-room cottage

June 28, 2006

By COREY YOUNG
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

"Wanted: Prospective rat owners to adopt cute, furry creatures from Petaluma Animal Shelter. Must be kind to animals and willing to care for pets. Must be satisfied with only one rat at a time."

If you fit that description, you might want to get yourself and 1,000 like-minded friends to the shelter on Hopper Street this week.

Inside you'll find cages upon cages of black, white and gray rats, rescued from an unassuming butterscotch-yellow cottage on the western limits of Petaluma.

Shelter officials said the occupant of the home, 67-year-old Roger Dier, was keeping nearly 1,000 rats inside the small, one-room cottage.

When animal-control officers responded to neighbor complaints about the smell on June 20, they found it wasn't one of Dier's several cats causing the problem.

Many new cages later, shelter workers went home at 1 a.m. June 21 -- but with 1,000 more mouths to feed when they came back.

Now, they're hoping to find some rat lovers willing to adopt, or "we'll have to euthanize hundreds of them," shelter manager Nancee Tavares said.

The rats apparently keep fairly quiet. During a visit to Dier's house last week, the Argus-Courier couldn't contact him, but did find a neighbor who had no idea the kind animal lover next door still kept rats.

At least five years ago, when neighbor Diane Nickleby ran into Dier at a pet shop downtown, he mentioned to her that he had acquired some pet rats, she recalled.

But "We never saw them again. The cats were in there and I just didn't think those were compatible," Nickleby said. "When I saw on the news that he had 1,000 rats in there, I couldn't believe it."

Neither could Dier's 17-year landlord, Reno DiTomaso, when he discovered the critters a couple of months ago.

"I told him to get rid of them," DiTomaso said. "I raised the rent, threatened to evict him. My fault is not enforcing the rule to go and inspect the place. Little did I know."

Tavares said other shelters and a rat rescue organization have been contacted to help find homes for the rats. But they aren't the world's most popular pets and adopting them out will be hard, she said.

But the shelter has a plan: First, they'll offer male rats for $5 apiece. Then, after females have been observed during a possible 21-day gestation period to make sure they're not pregnant, they'll be put up for adoption. All the rats will be spayed or neutered before they're adopted out.

And finally, the city will seek a court order to keep Dier from owning more than two rats of the same gender.

The Petaluma Animal Shelter is open from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Call 778-4396.

(Contact Corey Young at cyoung@arguscourier.com)