I regularly see rats climbing the trees to reach my bird-feeders, and often see them cleaning dropped seeds from the ground below.
My first reaction was the 'shock-horror' generally associated with rats, but as I watched them regularly, they became just another source of wild-life fascination in my garden, adding a small furry mammal to my list of feathered visitors, and the young ones are totally cute and playful.
So... My question is whether rats really deserve the disgust with which we tend to treat them. Is there any real harm or danger from them that requires we try to exterminate them from a garden? Why are they 'picked on' above squirrels, hedgehogs, foxes, etc? Or is it simply a matter of unjustified prejudice?
This is a really genuine, open-minded question, so please try to help me here.
Rose (novice birder)
My first reaction was the 'shock-horror' generally associated with rats, but as I watched them regularly, they became just another source of wild-life fascination in my garden, adding a small furry mammal to my list of feathered visitors, and the young ones are totally cute and playful.
So... My question is whether rats really deserve the disgust with which we tend to treat them. Is there any real harm or danger from them that requires we try to exterminate them from a garden? Why are they 'picked on' above squirrels, hedgehogs, foxes, etc? Or is it simply a matter of unjustified prejudice?
This is a really genuine, open-minded question, so please try to help me here.
Rose (novice birder)