When most people see a rat on the street corner, they don’t really think twice.
But a whole slew of people came to the aid of one very plump sewer rat in Germany.
The chubby sewer rat was found to be stuck in a sewer drain hole.
Apparently, he had been trying to squeeze through a hole in the sewer cap and got stucks when his big booty couldn’t fit through.
This poor rat was seriously distressed.
I mean, look how scared this little guy looks.
It looks like he’s screaming.
Thankfully passersby weren’t about to let this pudgy guy sit there and suffer.
A local family called animal rescuers from Berufstierrettung Rhein Neckar for help.
When rescuers arrived they found that the rat was healthy and not hurt, but he was definitely stuck.
“He was in a really good condition,” Andreas Steinbach, spokesperson for Berufstierrettung Rhein Neckar, told The Dodo.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t safely pull him out since he was really stuck in there. So, they called for help.
“We weren’t able to rescue the rat alone,” Steinbach said. “So we called the volunteer firefighters.”
These guys were the professionals and could extricate the rat safely without just yanking him through the hole and risk him being injured.
Once the husky rat was removed he was assessed and let back into his home that is the sewer system.
The firefighters lifted up the sewer cap and shimmied the rat back through the bottom of the hole.
Imagine so many people working to save a creature that many are repulsed by.
It was a truly beautiful thing.
His rescuers said that the rat seemed to be grateful for their efforts.
“He made a brief look back at us as if to say, ‘Thank you — and yes, I know I need to go on a diet,'” Steinbach said.
The compassionate effort on behalf of the animal rescuers and firefighters seemed to win them fans.
The children of the family who called for help for the rat immediately ran up to the firefighters after the rescue.
They delivered hand-drawn pictures of the rat as thanks for their selfless efforts.
The firefighters were even treated to some doughnuts.
Some might say a fat rat’s life isn’t worth saving and isn’t worth the trouble of the local volunteer fire department.
But no one on the scene that day thought this.
“We make no difference about what kind of animal needs help. We are in animal rescue, not in pest control,” Steinbach said. “We got some bad messages from people saying that rats are pests. But we got many more good messages and thanks from a lot of people.”
We happen to think that it’s a beautiful story.
Even actor Ron Perlman said that this rat’s life was worth saving.
“You watch, that rat will go on to do great things,” he said on Twitter.
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