Pets and such

I found a white rat wandering about the back yard when I went out to work on building the chicken coop. Yes, the chicken coop should be done by now but the problem is I was building for 3 chickens. However when I got to the feed store there were so many breeds I just couldn’t decide so I brought home 6 of them! Needless to say, a 3 capacity coop was too small for 6 chickens so I’ve had to start over. I think the size of the new one will hold more like 12 – guess I got a little carried away this time!
Back to the rat- he (for the sake of not being able to determine a sex from afar) was only moderately skiddish and actually very curious about me. He hid behind some bricks while keeping an eye on me – and me an eye on him. He was very cute as rats go. Obviously not too afraid of humans.
A few days later I saw him bounding through the neighbors grass – a white rodent is pretty unmistakable in green grass. I could only watch him for a minute before he was out of site. I felt sad for him that someone would release their pet rat into the wid. How cruel was that owner, how could they? How was he supposed to fend for himself after growing up in a cage his whole life? And then it hit me, isn’t that what I want for caged animals? Is to be free?
So , while many of you may think “it’s only a rat for god’s sake’, it made me wonder – what do I want for the caged animals of the world? It’s not easy thinkin’.
Obviously many animals are so domesticated that they couldn’t fend for themselves in a reasonable way and must depend on us to do that. Hopefully owners have respect for the pets in their care. But what happens when the owner crosses the line and is cruel? And we know there are many, too many, like that. What would be the best for the animal? Shelters run at capacity most of them time
It’s really no different for humans that mistreat kids, parents and spouses. There are no easy answers.
So to follow with the animal- and people-friendly theme, I guess we do anything we can, just one being at a time. I can’t save the world, I can’t bring home all the abused and care for them, much as I’d like to. But I can care for those I in my little world now, I can speak up if I see something out of line.
I fed that rat, despite my husband’s objections, but I knew he didn’t have much time left as there are too many predators in our woods. I haven’t seen him in over a week, I guess sometimes the best we can do is just love from afar.
What do you think?