A group watches three rats leap from small baskets into a big cage on Sunday as other rodents hide in makeshift tunnels offered by their keeper through the bars at an indoor hall in the Argentine capital. It's Ratapalooza, an annual Buenos Aires event that promotes the adoption of rodents raised in animal facilities or used for research in science labs once the animals have outlived their purpose or are just surplus, per the AP. To attract adoptive families, Team Ratas ("ratas" is Spanish for "rats") organizes events like Ratapalooza. In Argentina, keeping rats or mice as pets is legal, as long as they're not wild.
The whole thing turns into something of a fair, complete with stalls selling key chains, mugs, stickers, and hair clips in the shape of rats and mice. The money raised goes to veterinary and food expenses for the rodents, which are fostered at home before they're put up for adoption. At one of the stands, Maria Gabriela Aponte held Camamberto, one of the three rats she has adopted. All of them, she said, were raised in labs, in what's called a vivarium, where lab animals are kept under strictly controlled conditions. "People don't really know, or they have a very specific perception of, what a pet is," Aponte said. "Rats are very intelligent and sweet."
Dominique Verdier, who represents Team Ratas, says those interested in adopting rodents must have access to a veterinarian specialized in exotic animals, as well as a spacious cage with lots of accessories for their entertainment—and they must be willing and able to devote at least one hour a day to quality time spent with their adoptees. Team Ratas is a leader in Argentina and Latin America for rehoming lab rats and mice that, without a foster home, would otherwise be euthanized. The initiative started in 2016, when Verdier adopted two rats after a friend told her the university where they were used for research no longer needed them.
Proximity to rats and mice—and rodents in general—may be raising concerns amid the ongoing deadly hantavirus outbreak on the ill-fated Atlantic cruise ship MV Hondius after the ship stopped in Argentina earlier this month. Hantavirus is usually spread by breathing in droppings of contaminated wild rodents. Verdier, who fosters most of the 37 rodents at her home, stresses that lab rats are perfectly healthy. "They do not transmit diseases because they have not had contact with the street, nor are they inoculated with viruses and bacteria," she said. The labs that have been supplying Team Ratas for years only provide animals that haven't been infected with any viruses or bacteria.
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