A TRIO of rats which were found abandoned in a cage in Hindley are in the care of the RSPCA.

The three female rats were left in their wire mesh cage sometime on Thursday night (May 21) behind a row of houses in Broadway.

A family found the rats early Friday morning in their soaking wet cage, brought them inside, cleaned them out and called the RSPCA.

Inspector Rachel Henderson went to collect the rats. She said: “When the family discovered the rats they were inside their wire mesh cage which had not cover so the rats and everything inside was sopping wet.

“They very kindly took the cage home, cleaned it out and dried the rats off before calling us for help.

“Their daughter helped clean them out, fed them and made sure they had water. She decided to name them after her three favourite Disney characters: Mickey, Simba and Tayo!”

The rats are now in RSPCA care where they will be looking for new homes when they’re ready.

Rachel is keen to hear from anyone who knows where these rats have come from, who’s responsible for abandoning them or who may have seen them being dumped to contact the RSPCA’s appeal line on 0300 123 8018.

“We know that times are hard right now and that people’s circumstances can change meaning they may no longer be able to take care of their pets,” Rachel added. “However, if you find yourself in this situation then the responsible thing to do is to ask for help or rehome your pets rather than abandoning them in the street.”

Since the country went into lockdown on March 23, the RSPCA’s key workers have been busy rescuing and taking care of animals in need, including responding to 1,663* incidents of abandonments - an average of 40 incidents a day.

For more information on taking care of rats check out the RSPCA advice pages online. If you’d like to offer an RSPCA rat a new home visit rspca.org.uk/findapet.

To help the RSPCA keep rescuing animals like these and keep our animal hospitals and centres running for emergency treatment and round the clock care through these unprecedented times, please donate whatever you can spare at www.rspca.org.uk/covid.