On Sunday in Buenos Aires, people watched three albino rats leap from small baskets into a larger cage as other rodents hid in makeshift tunnels or reached for applesauce offered through the bars. The scene was part of Ratapalooza, an annual adoption-focused event that Team Ratas holds to find new homes for rats and mice raised in animal facilities or used in science labs once they are no longer needed. Organizers said the animals are fostered at home before adoption, and the event also includes a fair with stalls selling rat- and mouse-themed items.
Team Ratas, whose name means “rats” in Spanish, stages Ratapalooza to connect fostered rodents with adoptive families. In Argentina, the group said, keeping rats or mice as pets is legal provided they are not wild, and the adoption events are structured to help families understand the animals’ needs before taking them home. The fair is marketed as more than a handoff, with sales booths and activities designed to draw in prospective owners and supporters.
María Gabriela Aponte was among the adopters at the event, holding Camamberto, one of three rats she has adopted, as she sold vegan food and mouse-shaped pins and stickers. She told The Associated Press that the animals she adopted were raised in a “vivarium,” a setting where laboratory animals are kept under strictly controlled conditions. Aponte said people often have misconceptions about what constitutes a pet, and she described rats as “very intelligent and sweet.”
Dominique Verdier, who represents Team Ratas, said prospective adopters must have access to a veterinarian specialized in exotic animals, a spacious cage with accessories, and the time to provide daily interaction. The group’s approach, Verdier said, depends on those requirements as part of placing rodents into families rather than returning them to lab life. Team Ratas also operates with a foster-home model, with rodents looked after by volunteers before adoption.
Verdier said the organization has built a large rescue network in Argentina and Latin America. She said Team Ratas began in 2016 after she adopted two rats following a friend’s message that a university where they had been used for research no longer needed them. Over the years, Verdier said she set up a rodent rescue network with about 90 foster homes in Buenos Aires and nearby towns, providing housing for hundreds of animals from 11 animal facilities and labs. She said the effort has rescued more than 8,000 animals and found homes for about 3,000, and that the group has more than 60,000 followers on Instagram.
The organization’s message faces scrutiny from people who worry about rodents, particularly with Argentina dealing with an ongoing hantavirus outbreak linked earlier this month to the Atlantic cruise ship MV Hondius after it stopped in the country. Hantavirus is typically spread by breathing in droppings from contaminated wild rodents, which live in Patagonia, according to the report. Verdier said lab rats in the network remain healthy and do not transmit diseases because they have not had contact with the street and are not inoculated with viruses and bacteria.
Verdier also said the labs that supply Team Ratas provide animals that have not been infected with any viruses or bacteria, and she described conversations in which some facilities prefer to euthanize the animals while others urge her to take them away for rehoming. Veterinarian Silvina Diaz, at the University of Buenos Aires, studies the nervous system of rats and mice at an experimentation laboratory, and she said she supports the animals finding a new home once their lab careers end. Diaz said, “It is great that they’re doing this work of rehoming animals in families that can give them a good life,” describing her role as a liaison between veterinary technicians and Team Ratas.
On social media, Verdier said she has learned to expect criticism, especially from people who associate Ratapalooza with something they view as unusual. She said that when she mentions Ratapalooza, some users tell her it is “silly,” adding that she has continued the effort for about 10 years and that it has kept growing.