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The rat’s 56-year-old owner perched his pet on his shoulder for their bus ride until but both were escorted off at Jackson Square in Roxbury. Transit Police tweeted that other riders “felt unsafe and excited.”
The incident led to tweets comparing the incident to the Nutcracker, in which the Rat King and the Nutcracker battle, and references to Penelope the snake, who was lost on the subway in 2011.
Opinions about the rat varied on Twitter, with one user saying “this is why I don’t take the T,” and others calling the rat removal an act of “oppression.”
Regardless of the public’s desires (or the rat’s), the MBTA requires small animals to be in pet carriers. The rat may not be welcome back on the bus, but it certainly left an impression.
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