Rodent Shortage

Normally, city dwellers do anything they can to exterminate rats -- especially the common black variety known to scientists as Rattus rattus. But in Berlin disappointed schoolchildren have been left sobbing in front of pet stores after being unable to acquire domesticated brown version or Rattus norvegicus.

Local pet stores have plumb run out of the varmints due to the popularity of the film "Ratatouille" and its child-friendly hero Remy the Rat. And with the Christmas season fast approaching, this unusual rodent problem is only getting worse.

"We're completely sold out," pet store owner Gabriele Bartelt told the mass-market Bild newspaper. "We can barely keep up with orders so we're having to disappoint lots of kids."

Samir, a 9-year-old, is one of them.

"This is totally stupid," he told the paper. "There are no more rats and I wanted to name mine Remy -- like in the movie."

Boom could end in tragedy

But animal experts warn that aspiring rat-o-philes may not know what they're getting into. According Jolf Berghaus, spokesman for a German Association of Rat Owners and Enthusiasts, there's more to keeping rodents than may initially meet the eye.

"You have to watch out that you only buy rats of the same sex," Berghaus told the ddp press agency. Otherwise, he cautioned, rat owners will quickly find themselves in possession of 15 to 20 more animals than they originally intended.

Not to mention that today's fads are tomorrow's flops. Animal rights advocates are worried that the kids will soon lose interest in their new pets.

"The numbers of rats in Berlin's animal shelters have increased in the past few weeks," Marcel Gäding, the spokesman for an animal rights association, told ddp.

Experts noted that there was a similar demand for spotted dogs after the film "101 Dalmatians" and clownfish after "Find Nemo."

Many of the Dalmatians ended up in the pound, while unwanted clownfish were often disposed off in the city's sewer system.

While rats' furry girth and the small-piped physics of Berlin plumbing are likely to keep the rats out of the toilet bowl, they are prime candidates for backyard, shoebox burials if their young owners decide they're really not that cute after all.