Owner Sought After Pet Rat Found on Bus

Photos courtesy of the Riverside County Animal Services

By City News Service

Officials on Thursday worked to reunite a 2-year-old satin female rat found on a SunLine Transit Agency bus with its owner.

Authorities determined that a SunLine rider carried the pet on the bus in his shirt but the rodent got loose, said John Welsh, spokesman for the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

The rider reached his stop and got off the bus without the rat. Crew members at SunLine’s maintenance yard found the pet and called animal services.

“She is a very cute and very social animal,” animal services Officer James Huffman said.

The rat was nicknamed “Sunny” and has become a favorite among staff at the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms, where it will remain for a few days in anticipation of being recovered by her owner.

If the owner doesn’t come forward, Sunny will be transferred to Pet Land Place animal rescue, also in Thousand Palms, where she will be made available for a new owner, Welsh said.