Rats have a bad reputation that developed many years ago. Blame them for the Black Death plague talking in Europe a few hundred years ago, accuse them of chewing everything that was on the ground and below it in the thousand islands in the Pacific, accusing them of being dirty, transmitting diseases and biting. They say they should not be approached.
But anyone who raises rats as a teaching animal knows the secret: rats are friendly, loyal, intelligent, and very kind animals. You could say cute too.
They are no dirtier than other animals. And in that plague of that thing in which millions of people died, it is not the fault but the fleas. And the fact that they chew and destroy infrastructure, it's not their fault, it's in their genes. It's like blaming the sheep for farting and destroying the ozone layer.
World Rats Day is designed to raise awareness of these animals and eliminate the bad name that has come out of them, to make people understand that a rat is not a bad animal that spreads diseases, but a kind and gentle animal.
Pixar tried to do that in 2007 in the movie Ratatouille, about the cute chef-rat.
April 4 is also Carrot Day