About the rats placed in a washing machine

[hopefloats]

So here is the moral of the story from the case today. I am just now settling down after caring for our own rescued rats and I am sorry I left you hanging. It has been a VERY long day.

The prosecuting attorney spend the day saying animals and that their fate didn't matter (feeders or otherwise) but the act of placing animals in the washer meant for clothes.

The defense team took the stance of discrediting the rats as pets, only focused on them being compared to the wild rats that ran the city of chicago, even went as far as telling the jury that to be careful if they set snap traps or poison out at their home for rats because the state prosecuting attorney may file charges on you. The State and experts did a good job at focusing on them being domesticated rats and in showing the difference between the two. Sadly, which even more sadly I can see why they DID NOT get a conviction. The wording in the laws are "knowingly" Sadly that term knowingly allows for ignorance to skate in for the win. They focused on her not intending to do harm but she was simply cleaning the rats. Now most of us understand that you cannot place live animals in a washing machine to wash them. I do believe that she knows that as well but from a legal standpoint and that little word, she was able to walk free. Because in the video she sounds ignorant as hell as if she is just simply washing the rats. I know it does not make sense, I am furious but sadly this is in fact our justice system. I have spend vacation days on these court days, numerous fees in tolls, hours at the court house and driving to and from. I am not one bit happy with this or the verdict but the laws that are made require tweeking. That one little word, took her intent away and seriously lost the case. Because of her ignorance about sewer rats and about it being ok to wash rats in the washer, they lost. The rats lost. They were victims here and they were NOT taking as serious as a dog or cat would of been I do not have a doubt in my mind. That is all i have for now. I will explain more when I have time but my alarms will be going off at 3 am for work I need sleep. Hug your ratties and NEVER STOP fighting for them. We have to change these laws because sadly if you are dumb enough to not comprehend that placing live animals in a washing machine might not be a good idea then you can walk free. This stands in a lot of cases I have seen in Chicago lately. It isnt fair but we have to keep trying.

 

[RatPack]

Wow this is heartbreaking that those babies didn't get justice Hopefully this whole thing will deter her from ever having rats again.. Ugh so frustrating..being dumb/ignorant should be illegal in these kinds of cases not like an ooops I parked in the wrong parking space or something like that.. This was taking a living thing or in this case multie living things and putting them in a life threatening situation..had that been a child or as you said a dog or cat they would have cared and its ridiculous to me that we can pick and choose which lives matter and which don't... All lives should matter and I don't care if it's cat,rat,snake..spider whatever it was that she put in there it was not OK and she shouldn't have gotten away with it even with an excuse of ignorance...I'm fired up now haha thanks for the update!

 

[sonnyvincent]

I'm really upset that the case concluded that way but I think the fact it went to trial is a good thing. In the late 90s here we had a trio of boys break in to a shelter for cats and murder of 16 cats and beatings of many others. It was horrific. And in the end because the cats were not worth anything (being rescues, even though money had been put into fixing them and getting their shots and caring for them and there was an adoption fee attached), little was done to the guys who did it (23 days in jail for 2, probation for all 3). So at least this case got to trial. It's not enough but at some point people will see that those who are cruel to animals often have criminal minds and dealing with it harshly and taking it seriously is the safest thing not only for animals but for our communities.