Pass the Salt, Please: Entry into LMAC Contest #9

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My Collage

Pass the Salt, Please

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If a rat shows up for dinner at your house, it's likely to have less refined manners than the pair dining in my picture. And rats do have a way of showing up.

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In his #letsmakeacollage contest, @shaka invites us to let our imaginations play as we create collages from his photographs. And so I do, each and every time. The rules are simple: respect copyright restrictions and have fun.

Check out the entries this week as they pour in. You will be entertained, I promise.

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@shaka's Original Photo:

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Now, about rats and how they got into my picture:

New York City, the urban area closest to me, is notorious for having more rats than people. It's hard to know if that is true. One very detailed study estimated that only 2,000,000 rats live in the city. According to the New York Times, 8,600,000 people live in the city. I wouldn't bet my life on either of those numbers, but what does seem to be true is that rats do turn up in the oddest places.

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Isn't That Nice, a Nutritious Treat for the Friendly Neighborhood Rat?

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For example, there was the rat that came up through a sink drain. And then the rat that bit a man (you can guess where) as he sat on the commode (actually, that may have been a mouse). Rats visit babies in cribs, and children in parks. They're so common in train stations that people just try to stay out of their way.

Although my trash/rat collage is meant to elicit a chuckle, there's nothing funny about rats. Throughout history they have been a scourge. The bubonic plague, which spread from China through Europe in the Middle Ages, killed so many people that economies were ruined and governments toppled. Rats were believed to be the chief vector of this centuries-long pandemic.

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Plague-Infected Rats May Have Hitchhiked on Silk Road Caravans

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Today, among other things, rats also spread Leptospirosis, Salmonellosis, and the ever-unpleasant rat-bite fever.

Personally, I don't hate rats. I actually think they're kind of cute. But they don't belong in our homes, parks and train stations. Since poison doesn't seem to be effective, and they are wily trap-evaders, we have to use other strategies to control the rat population. One of the most effective approaches is to

GET RID OF THE TRASH

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Rodents are homebodies. They build their burrows near food supplies. And then they propagate like, well, like rats. So if there are rats in your neighborhood, you can be sure there's a good food supply nearby.

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Did We Wake You?

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Some Rat Facts (From Live Science)

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*The male rat is called a buck, the female a doe, and the kids are called mischief (I just love that!)

*There are many species of rat, some that are actually endangered. The house rat, however is not on the endangered list. On the contrary, it exists on every continent except Antarctica.

*Rats can be omnivores or vegetarians. Some rats are actually hunters, and like meat.

*House rats are really, really good at breeding: some rats may produce as many as 2,000 babies a year (mischief, indeed).

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Thought I'd end with a cute rat, after all that dreadful information.

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Elements that went into my collage:

1. @shaka's picture

2. Paint 3D, including garbage in the back of the dump truck. I added this to enhance the 'trash' effect :)

A Different Point of View?

There's usually another way of seeing things, and that's the case with rats. A temple in Rajasthan, India is dedicated to the worship of rats. At The Karni Mata Temple rats are not only left in peace, but are worshiped. The rats, according to at least one legend, are descended from gods. Most of the furry critters in the temple are black, but occasionally a white one appears. This rat is considered to be especially holy.

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Rats Partaking of a Snack at Karni Mata Temple