"Immediately I knew that’s not a wild rat... It had a shorter, rounder nose, its ears were on the side of its head and it was white. … If you know rats, you know rats."

Said Elm Dylan, quoted in "A waterfront park is overrun with rats. Rescuers are trying to find homes for them. A group of volunteers believes the rodents at Harbor View Memorial Park in Portland are domestic, not wild, and is working to rescue them and find foster homes" (Portland Press Herald).

The rats must be saved... because they are white? White rats, unlike brown rats, are perceived as pets.

How they got [into Harbor View Memorial Park] remains up for debate. Wearing checkered pajama pants and Ugg boots, [Brittney Smith] slipped on a pair of too-big work gloves and headed into the park, arms full of supplies.... She trekked through the snow and set [a] trap, then began tapping on rocks and shining a flashlight into dark crevices where she hoped rats might be burrowing.... 

“Every single animal that needs rescuing, it could be a caterpillar, I’m gonna do it,” she said. She has owned five rats before, she knows what they look like, how they act, what they want to eat. “When I take in an animal I learn every single thing I can.”... 

At Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, several rescuers, including Dylan, spoke before the council, imploring the city to stop using poison to exterminate the rats.... 

In a statement Thursday afternoon, city spokesperson Jessica Grondin said that the rat infestation was “severe” and is a public health concern. She said it contributed to the city’s resolve to clear the [homeless] encampment.... “Even if there are
domesticated rats … there are still public health risks that exist for those rats, as well as people.”

The city’s exterminator is “using a variety of methods – bait traps and canine control,” Grondin said...

Smith doesn’t understand why the extermination efforts are necessary. To her, it’s clear most of these rats would die from the cold anyway. “These are pets, they kiss you, they cuddle you, they love you. They were already going to die out here, they don’t need to be poisoned as well,” she said....

They kiss you... they love you....

Are these domesticated or feral?

Speaking of white, the women seem awfully adorable, so young and so inappropriately dressed for rat hunting in pajama pants, Ugg boots, and gloves that don't fit and envisioning rescuing every animal that needs rescuing. She's 20, but she sounds 2.

And how did we get white rats in the first place? Is it something like how we got white people — something about migrating to cold, dark climates and experiencing natural selection? No! Wikipedia tells the grotesque origin story:

Rat-baiting was a popular sport until the beginning of the 20th century. It involved filling a pit with several rats and then placing bets on how long it would take a terrier to kill them all.

It is believed that both rat-catchers and sportsmen began to keep certain, odd-colored rats during the height of the sport, eventually breeding them and then selling them as pets....

While domesticated rats are not removed enough from their wild counterparts to justify a distinct subspecies (like the dog versus grey wolf), there are significant differences that set them apart; the most apparent is coloring. Random color mutations may occur in the wild, but these are rare. Most wild R. norvegicus are a dark brown color, while fancy rats may be anything from white to cinnamon to blue.

Behaviorally, domesticated pet rats are tamer than those in the wild. They are more comfortable around humans and known to seek out their owners while roaming freely....[W]ild rats generally have larger brains....

With smaller brains and a stand-out color, these rats don't seem to have much of a chance. If not rescued or exterminated, they'll live a short, painful life. Or so I imagine. It's interesting that the city is using "canine control." Shades of the old rat-baiting. Presumably, there's no gambling or fun in it these days.