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Roger Dier didn't have a lot going for him, but he had his rats. He kept a thousand of the squealing rodents in his one-bedroom house in Petaluma.
After he was cited for animal cruelty and his pets were taken away this week, Dier, 67, admitted that the colony had gotten a bit out of control. Still, he insisted, the furry rodents loved him and he loved them, according to Nancee Tavares, the city's Animal Services manager.
It is the second major case of animal hoarding in Petaluma. In 2001, Marilyn Barletta packed 200 cats in her Petaluma home, where conditions were so crowded the felines began eating one another. The stench of their excrement was so powerful that authorities declared the air in the house dangerous to breathe.
Dier's case is particularly unusual because about two-thirds of the people who hoard animals are women, according to animal control workers. Cats and, to a lesser extent, dogs are the preferred animals.
"Not many people like rats," Tavares said. "They have a bad rap."
Still, Dier fit the profile of a typical hoarder. He was described as unmarried and reclusive. Neighbors said he had often been unemployed but recently was working nights in a computer-related job. He regularly complained about health problems and his age, according to his landlord. He told authorities that he wanted to protect the rodents, but they began breeding uncontrollably, and soon he was overwhelmed.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/24/MNGEDJJT3V1.DTL