The following letter to the Wall Street Journal (August 31, 1994) concerns the story of Frank Balun, a Hillside, New Jersey man who set a passive squirrel trap for a rat that had been eating his garden vegetables. After the rat became trapped, Balun called the state Humane Society to pick it up. However, the rat started to struggle to escape from the trap, so Balun hit it on the head with a broom handle, killing it.

Balun was then charged with "needlessly abusing a rodent" by the Humane Society, whose director said, "It may only be a rat, but it's a living creature, and there is no reason to abuse a living creature." If convicted, he faced a $10,000 fine.

The charge was eventually dropped following widespread public ridicule and enthusiastic support from Health Board chief Angelo Bonano, who called the charges "absolutely preposterous," adding, "we encourage people to kill rats because they carry disease!"

Note the spurious name at the end of the letter:

With respect to your defamatory editorial that attempted humor over the wanton and vicious murder of a poor defenseless rodent (or the Latin mus as the name "rats" prefer to call themselves) at the hands of a white human male who is 100 times the size of the victim, I must protest ("Oh, Rats!" Aug. 11).

It is well and good that you beat your breasts in justification that the "grandfather" was only protecting his grandchildren, but this is at the expense of another fact. The poor murdered creature was simply foraging for food to feed her own family, certainly less a threat than, say, a raccoon. Would you express a similar satisfaction had farmer MacGregor caught and killed Peter in Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit"? I rather doubt it. But Peter was a rodent, too.

MUS, or "rats," if you insist, have a particular problem. They are not considered attractive because of their long and hairless tails. Their close cousins, mice on the other hand, receive greater understanding, and even respect. A mouse was responsible for creating a multibillion-dollar international company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Sadly, due to human prejudice as exhibited by your editorial, this would not have been the case had he been named "Dickey Rat."

"Oh, Rats" can be said as a curse, but it can also be expressed as a plea for mercy, compassion and understanding. It would be best for all to remember we are all God's creatures, and therefore not editorialize that some exterminations are more justifiable than others.

—Billion Basp
President
MUS Anti-Defamation League
New York

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