Rat
Rescue :: Rat
Article
The coming of the fancy rat
Have you ever wondered how rat keeping came about? Rat lover
Kerry May tells us how these wonderful furries became part of
our life…
It seems it all happened in the Victorian times, a time when
the human population was growing and so was that of the rats.
In the name of so-called ‘entertainment’ publicans would have’
rat pits’ and dogs were encouraged to go into rat pits and kill
as many as possible in a set amount of time.
To get their live bait in the first place (ie the poor wild
rats) Publicans employed Rat Catchers for this purpose, who
would catch wild rats and sell the ones they caught to the publican.
While out catching rats the rat catchers would come across
unusual coloured rats, which would be kept as a collection.
Jimmy Shaw, who ran one of London’s most famous rat pits, had
found a white rat and also black and white rats in various locations.
Jack Black, who was Queen Victoria’s official Rat and Mole
catcher, would breed the odd coloured rats he found and would
sell them around London. They became popular pets especially
among young women who would keep them in squirrel cages.
Beatrix Potter wrote a story in 1908 dedicated to her pet
rat Sammy. It was around this time that rats started to be shown
and breeders started to develop their colours and patterns.
But interest faded and it was not until the 1970s that rat keeping
became popular again.
Author : Kerry May
