On Wednesday, Dec. 21, North Bay Fire & Emergency Services issued an order to remove the rats from the apartment.

The North Bay & District Humane Society has removed close to 600 domestic rats from an apartment in North Bay and is working with animal welfare partners to re-home the small animals.

On Friday, Dec. 16, officers responded to a report concerning a large number of domestic rats being kept in an apartment unit. Upon receiving consent from the tenant to enter the unit, they saw over 100 free-roaming rats.

Over the next few days, the rats were brought to the society in order to try and alleviate the overcrowding situation, but it became apparent during the removal that the number of rats exceeded initial estimates says a news release.

On Wednesday, Dec. 21, North Bay Fire & Emergency Services issued an order to remove the rats from the apartment. The owner, who is working closely with the Humane Society, voluntarily surrendered all the rats in her care to the Society.

Officers returned to the apartment today (Thursday) to gather the remainder of the animals.

To help re-home such a large number of small animals, the Humane Society reached out to its partners at the Ontario SPCA and its Affiliate Communities.

The rats are being transferred to Ontario SPCA animal centres in Midland, Muskoka, Barrie, Orillia, Orangeville, Cornwall, Renfrew, Napanee, Brockville, Sudbury and the Provincial Education & Animal Centre, located just outside Newmarket.

A number of Affiliate Communities will also be welcoming rats from the transfer into their centres, including the Peterborough Humane Society, Quinte Humane Society, the Humane Society of Kawartha Lakes and the Sarnia & District Humane Society.

“This has been a very unique case,” says Daryl Vaillancourt, North Bay & District Humane Society. “We are thankful to have had the support of our various partners to help resolve this situation and find new homes for these rats.”

The rats are currently receiving health checks and will be placed up for adoption shortly.

Anyone interested in adopting one of the rats is encouraged to visit the website of their closest participating animal centre or humane society: