Greetings to our MRR Family and Friends!

Photo used with permission from
Empty Cages Collective

In August, MRR was contacted to help with a case in the Catskills region of upstate New York, where a large number of rats was abandoned in an apartment without food. When discovered, local shelters and animal rescue organizations were called in to remove the rats, but even after this initial rescue, over 100 rats, including several pregnant females, were still there when an exterminator was called in.

But in a surprising twist, the exterminator granted a stay of execution! Knowing that these rats were domestic animals, and wanting to give them a second chance, he took it upon himself to find more organizations to help them. 

The Psychologists Litter

MRR stepped up to help alleviate the burden on some of the other parties who participated in this rescue. We took in 39, including pregnant females, from the Columbia-Greene Humane Society, the first organization to rescue rats from the apartment. In addition, we took 72 rats from Tom N., a previous MRR adopter who opened his home as a temporary sanctuary to an abundance of these rats, and from one of the volunteers who participated in the second wave of rescues at the apartment. In total, MRR welcomed 111 rats!

Jump of Hop, Skip & Jump

All of the rats MRR has taken in have completed their quarantine period at this time, and the pregnancy watch has ended. The disposition of the animals is surprisingly sweet considering the situation from which they came to us, and of course the babies are being handled daily to socialize them for their future homes. Some of the rats that were brought in have already been adopted, but more will be looking for homes soon. Keep an eye on the newly designed MRR website for them to be listed as they become available for adoption. In the meantime, feel free to contact us under "Adopting" to request an adoption application if you're interested in giving any of these little ones a new, loving home.

Mainely Rat Rescue is an organization that is completely reliant on our wonderful foster homes. Caring, dedicated volunteers who are willing to open their homes as a safe haven for the animals we rescue are what allows us to help in situations of this size. If you've ever thought about fostering, please contact us under "Fostering" for more information.

Auction Donations Needed!

It's time to clean out your attic, or put your creativity to work! MRR is holding an online auction next month to raise funds for the rescue, and we can't do it without the generosity of our wonderful community. 

To donate, or if you have questions regarding this event, you can contact us through MRR's new store Facebook page, or send an email to mrr.juliau@gmail.com, and please type "auction" in the subject line. If you have items you would like to donate, please include a photo of each item, a brief description, whether the item is new or used, a reasonable starting bid, whether or not you will be covering shipping costs and, if not, how much you will be charging for shipping. 

You can also, if you prefer, send your items to:

The Snuggle Buddy Boutique
c/o Julia Umbro
44 Boothby Rd
Limington, ME 04049

The deadline for donating items is Friday, October 26th. Thank you in advance!

The auction will commence at noon on Sunday, November 4, and final bids will need to be in by midnight on Tuesday, November 13. After November 13, anything left without a bid will be available for purchase at the starting bid price (or more, if you choose) by whomever claims it first, until noon on Friday, November 16. We hope you can join the fun and help us bring in much-needed funds for the animals!

On Saturday, October 6, rodent-loving merrymakers gathered at Adams Farm in Walpole, MA for MRR's first ever Rat Faire, to eat good food, participate in fun activities and, of course, snuggle with all the beautiful, adoptable rats. If that's not a formula for happiness, we don't know what is! Faire-goers had the honor of hearing an interesting talk by Dr. Fiske, regarding common health issues in rats. There was an informative presentation on pet insurance. Wonderful prizes were won in our raffle. And at the end of the day, 14 rats went home with smitten adopters, and another was reserved! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make this event happen, and to all of the attendees that joined us in celebrating all things rat!

For the Love of Rats (and More!),

Team MRR

EXTRA! EXTRA!
Calling all aspiring reporters out there! Do you have a story to tell? We want to read all about it! Share your tales of heartwarming adoptions, your reports of hair-raising rescues, your adventures in foster parenting, or any other topic you think would be interesting to our community, and we may feature it in one of our upcoming newsletters! Contact us under "General Inquiries" to submit your story ideas.