Spudshed Perth: Disgusted shoppers recoil after woman is spotted doing her groceries with a pet rat on each shoulder
A woman has caused a stir in a supermarket after she was spotted at the checkout with her rats on her shoulders.
The woman was seen at the Spudshed supermarket in Ellenbrook, in Perth’s north-east, during peak shopping time around 5pm.
Other shoppers were ‘shocked’ to see the rodents around fresh produce.
The Western Australian supermarket chain, owned by the Galati Group, said service animals, not pets, were only allowed into the store.
A woman shocked customers at a Spudsheds supermarket in Ellenbrook, northeast Perth, after she was spotted at the checkout with a rat on each shoulder (pictured)
One shopper said they were reeling at the thought that the woman was “okay with coming to the grocery store with rats.”
“It was unbelievable to find in a supermarket that the last thing I want to find is rat turds in my groceries,” she said Perth Now.
Galati Group’s head of marketing, Melissa Osterhage, said the rats were only spotted when they reached the checkout and the incident was not “reported to the Ops team.”
‘Spudshed welcomes service animals, but pets are not allowed in the store. Signage is displayed communicating this to our customers,” Ms. Osterhage told the publication.
Daily Mail Australia approached Spudshed for comment.
Although rats are associated with the Black Death – a disease that killed around 50 million people in Europe in the 14th century and was transmitted by rodent-borne fleas – many have taken to keeping them as pets because of their social and loving character.
A spokesperson for Spudshed said staff only noticed the rodents when the woman was at the checkout and assured customers that only service animals are allowed in the store.
Contrary to popular belief that rats are dirty creatures, when kept as pets in a clean environment, their grooming habits make them quite hygienic.
The RSPCA describes rats as ‘incredibly rewarding animals to care for’ because they are ‘intelligent, highly social animals’.
‘They can form close bonds with their human carers, but have complex needs and are not easy to get along with,’ the RSPCA website says.
One of the rats on the woman’s shoulder, a bald rat, is known to be more active than their genetic relatives, but more likely to bite when threatened.