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Real Rats: The Story of the YRB Girls, Part 1

© Karen Yang

This is the story of a group of eight rescue rats who meant very much to our family. They were originally used as window displays in a punk clothing store in Manhattan called Yellow Rat Bastard (what else?). Since they were "only" lab rats, the owner of the store didn't think he had to take care of them very well. In the beginning, there were about 72 rats housed in two windows, which were in full sun in the afternoons. And in NYC in the summertime, the temperatures can get appallingly hot. He fed them once a week or so, and many times they were observed to be without any food or water. If anyone complained about their treatment, the owner would say they were just rats, and besides they were his property. If the protester continued to complain about their treatment, the owner would then get hostile and grab a rat and swing it around by its tail to prove he could do what he liked with them. He also reportedly assaulted a few people who continued to protest the horrid conditions.

It took several very dedicated people, an animal rights group or two, a letter-writing campaign to the mayor and city officials and landlord of the building and many long months before the rats were finally freed. The owner agreed to let them go if he was reimbursed for their cost. By that time, there were only about 36 rats left alive. The girl rats were, fortunately, kept separate from the boys in a different window. But, the owner, as a last bit of revenge, put a few girls in with the boy batch. (Boys in with the girls would have stood out too well!) That meant the number of rescues bounced back up to around 70 in a few weeks.

We had agreed to adopt a group of boy rats, but the boys all went to a foster home in New Jersey, which was farther for us (and the rats) to travel. So we ended up driving into Manhattan to pick up 8 girls instead. We brought a large cardboard box lined with old towels and some sliced cucumbers in case anyone got thirsty on the drive back to Brooklyn. The girls' foster dad had them all in a makeshift cage, which he had made out of cardboard boxes stuck together. There were holes between boxes so they could get from box to box - a luxurious home compared to where they used to live!