Festival calls for cozying up to rats

There are many different tools to teach about diversity and acceptance. Rats aren't usually one of them.

Yet acceptance was the central message yesterday at the sixth annual Fab Rat and Animal Friends Festival in South Philadelphia, where visitors could pet rats, adopt rats, and eat rat-shaped lollipops.

"I'm trying to educate the public about how wonderful these animals are," said Maria Pandolfi, founder of the Rat Chick Rat Rescue and Advocacy Group, which organized the event.

Pandolfi is an art teacher at G.W. Childs Elementary School. When she takes rats to her classroom, she said, her students come to adore them.

Pandolfi tells her pupils: "If you can like these guys, and you find out that all those beliefs you had were wrong, just think about all the people that are different than us. . . . You need to get to know someone before you decide that you dislike them, whether they're an animal or a person."

The festival, at the Columbis-DiProspero Playground at 12th and Wharton Streets, featured many lighthearted activities, including a rat beauty pageant, the A-Rat-Emmy Awards, and a rat auction. Rat cupcakes and "fairy rat" T-shirts and bags were for sale.

The rats themselves - several dozen were present - came in various sizes, colors and tail lengths. Visitors were free to pet them in their cages or, as many opted, let them sit on their shoulders while walking around.

Many animal-rights groups were on hand, including the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, Have a Heart Guinea Pig Rescue, and Pitter Patter Pocket Pets. There were also performances by a poet, a singer, and G.W. Childs Elementary School's Chinese dance troupe.

Pandolfi said people had many misconceptions about rats. "People think they're ugly," she said, "but I think when you meet them, they're pretty darn cute."

Pandolfi added that veterinarians recommended domesticated rats for young children because they don't bite like other pets do. Also, she said, rats aren't dirty; they clean themselves more often than cats.

David Odell, 58, a German translator who lives in Center City, said he was glad to see so many different animal advocacy groups at the festival.

"I'm interested in the rights of the animals and how people go about representing their rights," he said, "so it's nice to see the variety of different kinds of organizations."

Odell's girlfriend, Kathy Lopez, 44, who works as an interpreter, said it was important for people to learn about the abuses that many animals suffered.

"Animals in labs, dogfighting, cockfighting, factory farming," she said. "It's getting way out of hand."

Irene Vey, 45, has 13 rats in her home in Mayfair. "We bought one and didn't know she was pregnant," she said.

Vey's son, Jake, 9, said he thought rats made good pets. "They're fun to play with," he said.