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Man punished for abandoning rats
WPRI CBS 12 Providence, RI ^ | 2009-01-22

Posted on 01/22/2009 8:55:36 AM PST by rabscuttle385

He did not want the rats living with his new baby.

BY BRUCE MORIN

WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - A Providence man is in trouble after he abandoned nearly 300 rats on the side of the road.

The man, Toby Duffany, pleaded no contest to animal abandonment and was ordered to pay $1000 restitution and perform 50 hours of community service.

Police say Duffany crammed 280 rats into aquariums and cages, and left them on the side of the road in Foster last month. The rats were discovered several days after they were abandoned. 72 rats had died and the rest had resorted to cannibalism.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals euthanized the living rats.

In court, Duffany said he got rid of the rats because they could not live in his apartment with his new baby. The Rhode Island SPCA was disappointed with the punishment.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: Rhode Island
KEYWORDS: animals; rats; rhodeisland; ri
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Lincoln Chafee is mortified.
1 posted on 01/22/2009 8:55:37 AM PST by rabscuttle385
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To: fieldmarshaldj; Clintonfatigued; Impy

Rats in Rhode Island ping.


2 posted on 01/22/2009 8:56:13 AM PST by rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" —Patrick Henry)
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To: rabscuttle385

He should have just killed them outright.


3 posted on 01/22/2009 8:57:33 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: rabscuttle385

Not nearly as much as Richard Gere.


4 posted on 01/22/2009 8:57:39 AM PST by RichInOC ("ARMAGEDDON!!!" [BOOM!] "And the rodents' red glare, gerbils bursting in air...")
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To: rabscuttle385
I'm sorry, but aren't rats considered pests? Because he didn't use traps or Decon, he is being punished?
5 posted on 01/22/2009 8:58:22 AM PST by Heartland Mom ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." - Ronald Reagan)
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To: rabscuttle385

How long until people are punished for using disinfectants? Kills all those poor defenseless staph germs and stuff.


6 posted on 01/22/2009 8:58:22 AM PST by Seruzawa (Obamalama lied, the republic died.)
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To: rabscuttle385

Wait, the guy owned 300 rats?

I don’t even want to think about what his home must have smelled like.


7 posted on 01/22/2009 8:59:38 AM PST by eclecticEel (The liberal's sense of compassion begins and ends with their own person.)
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To: rabscuttle385

When did common sense die?


8 posted on 01/22/2009 8:59:55 AM PST by mort56
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To: rabscuttle385

Punished for “abandoning rats.” What is our world coming to?


9 posted on 01/22/2009 9:00:00 AM PST by B Knotts (Worst economy since the Third Punic War)
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To: rabscuttle385

I was wondering if they were white pet rats, then I saw the pic. Yeeesh.


10 posted on 01/22/2009 9:06:00 AM PST by ScottinVA (Make my world PURRRFECT, Lord Obama!)
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To: rabscuttle385

Liberal logic...protect the rats, screw the baby. The rat has become the symbol of the democratic party. These people are sick. I know this is redundant, but I have to say it.


11 posted on 01/22/2009 9:07:04 AM PST by peridot
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To: rabscuttle385

were those rats by any chance last seen in DC chanting “hope and change”?


12 posted on 01/22/2009 9:07:11 AM PST by MNDude
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To: Heartland Mom
I'm sorry, but aren't rats considered pests? Because he didn't use traps or Decon, he is being punished?

In racist, cracker America the black rats are the pests and the white rats are treated as kings. < /Reverend Wright mode>

13 posted on 01/22/2009 9:07:11 AM PST by KarlInOhio (On 9/11 Israel mourned with us while the Palestinians danced in the streets. Who should we support?)
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To: Heartland Mom
Police say Duffany crammed 280 rats into aquariums and cages, and left them on the side of the road in Foster last month.

Even for rats, that's a pretty depraved and callous way to treat another living creature. Even the wasps at my house don't suffer that much when I hose down their nests with poison.

14 posted on 01/22/2009 9:15:14 AM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: rabscuttle385
$1000 restitution

Newport Bridge token is only two bucks.
15 posted on 01/22/2009 9:16:27 AM PST by Thrownatbirth (.....Iraq Invasion fan since '91.)
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To: rabscuttle385

Those rodents are currently unemployable since scientists now prefer to use attorneys or politicians for experimentation seeing as how there are certain things a rat just won’t do.


16 posted on 01/22/2009 9:34:08 AM PST by dainbramaged (the Tree of Liberty needs watering)
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To: rabscuttle385

You mean he became a Republican?


17 posted on 01/22/2009 9:34:44 AM PST by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: Heartland Mom
He kept the rats as pets — they should have been disposed of humanely for that reason alone. Once released in the wild, the only way for the rats to live would be for them to become pests. Therefore, the guy also deserves to be punished for introducing pests into the area.
18 posted on 01/22/2009 9:38:46 AM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: beethovenfan
"You mean he became a Republican?"

Even better... He caged 250 Democrats. His only mistake is that he abandoned them alive on the side of the road.

What he should have done is subjected them to Conservative Talk Radio until they either converted from 'rats or gnawed their own legs off and died.

19 posted on 01/22/2009 9:51:41 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: rabscuttle385

Why didn’t he just feed them rat poison? I mean..they’re rats for crying out loud.


20 posted on 01/22/2009 9:56:40 AM PST by pgkdan
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