Trio of rats found dumped behind Wigan homes named after Disney characters

The three female rodents were left in their wire mesh cage sometime last Thursday night behind a row of houses in Broadway, Hindley.

A family found the trio early Friday morning in their soaking wet cage, brought them inside, cleaned them out and called the RSPCA.

Insp Rachel Henderson went to collect them. She said: “When the family discovered the rats they were inside their wire mesh cage which had not been covered so the rats and everything inside was sopping wet.

“They very kindly took the cage home, cleaned it out and dried the rats off before calling us for help.

“Their daughter helped clean them out, fed them and made sure they had water. She decided to name them after her three favourite Disney characters: Mickey, Simba and Tayo!”

The rats are now in RSPCA care where they will be looking for new homes when they’re ready.

Rachel is keen to hear from anyone who knows where these rats have come from, who’s responsible for abandoning them or who may have seen them being dumped to contact the RSPCA’s appeal line on 0300 123 8018.

“We know that times are hard right now and that people’s circumstances can change meaning they may no longer be able to take care of their pets.

“However, if you find yourself in this situation then the responsible thing to do is to ask for help or re-home your pets rather than abandoning them in the street.”

Since the country went into lockdown on March 23, the RSPCA’s key workers have been busy rescuing and taking care of animals in need, including responding to 1,663 incidents of abandonments - an average of 40 incidents a day.

For more information on taking care of rats check out the RSPCA advice pages online. If you’d like to offer an RSPCA rat a new home visit www.rspca.org.uk/findapet.

A message from the Editorial Director, Gillian Parkinson:

Thank you for reading this story on our website.

But I also have an urgent plea to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality local news on this free-to-read site and in print, please purchase a copy of our newspaper as well.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on our town centres and many of our valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you buying a copy when you pop out for your essential shop or subscribing for delivery.

Our journalists are highly trained by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards anywhere in the world. Our content is universally trusted - as all independent research proves.

As Baroness Barran said in a House of Lords debate this week on the importance of journalists: "Not only are they a trusted source of facts, but they will have a role to play in rallying communities and getting the message across about how we can keep ourselves and our families safe, and protect our NHS. Undoubtedly, they have a critical role."

But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. In return we will continue to forensically cover the local news - not only the impact of the virus but all the positive and uplifting news happening in these dark days.

We thank all our readers and advertisers for their understanding and support - and we wish YOU all the best in the coming weeks. Keep safe, and follow the Government advice. Thank you.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE: You can subscribe for delivery by contacting us at [email protected] or calling us on 0330 4033004 for details of a participating newsagent near you.