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<Whltby Fmoe Pres. Wecinosdy, May 15e, 1996.,Page NTAG.I 1$ Pet projeet Fudgie died on Thursday. As pets go, she was ail most kids could want: charming, intelligent, very soclean, caged and easy to feed. 'Mee dean part is relative. It depends more on humans, c and how often they clean the cage. The pet is dlean, the humans, well, human i that regard. Fudgie had one flaw. While most people would easly warm up te her soft brown eyes, her sleek, smooth coat, her sometimes human fbibles, many could flotget beyond the emotional response te her round, file-like tail. Fudgie was a Hooded rat. She came te us a year ago last September, the product of a class project that reproduced i a teacher's basement over the summer. The teacher thought she had taken home ____ ___________________________ two female rats. ______________________________________ Fudgie was one of a litter of six. Two others went te ___________________________ other ofErin's clasae:Sznat hitn n ac te Rachael.Sunn eCitneadath Before Fudgie came te live with us, a few rituals were observed. Ffrst, the signed pledge: NW IEinSan eignieyer od do solemnly swear OmtI wll aiffl , t te bst f y ailiylook after MY pet rat, dlean her cage, feed her, provide her water, and generally give her loving care and a good home. Such pledges last thiee, ma ybe four days. This one laÈtedhalf a day, tops. Female rats, we were teld shortly after the official hadoif do not have the same quiet, soothing natures that maie rats exhibit. They tend te bite. M Oh, they weren't much as far as bites go. More like rîibbles, reay. Not that we put our hands in the cage long te find out Just in, out, quick, a pass te feed her a morsel. The cage was a top loader, coplete with a gerbil wheel that was neyer used, discarded the second week. Thirty- nine dollars, ninety cents, plus tax. Paid for by a nine-year- Fearing bites, Erin would wrap herself in layers of BROOK STRET LOOKING SOUTH FROM ROYAL HOTEL., C. 1868 Tis is one of the oldest known photographa of WhibyTeOtaiHolatrhtste clothing and my garden gloves in her attempts te cuddle fomroi Vnefut akta EmSre . The Ontbron Ho tel at conrejeonthe sit the' corne on a oeil. Eventuafly the garden gloves were shed, A six-year-old boy crushed by a transport truick at Byo n hstnut Sitreets' je Whitby's and the girl and her rat would gambol daily. second traffic fatality of 1961. Yo ol ashr ae o pnthe lid-, hold a few A legacy of $2,5W0ham been given te the Ontario Ladies' College ae a memorial te the late You oul pae hr cgepopope Helena Richardson, a graduate who was Whitbys tai collecter. grains of feed i your hand, or dog chow, or whatever was John Leask of Myrtle will olebrate hie 98th birthday on Mayý 16. handy. Fudgie would dimnb out, walk across the *R.A. Hutchison Public School will b. officially opened tomorrw. outstretched palm, and stuif her cheeks. She would Il both fr-ont paws - those oh so human-like fr-ont paws - àand 100 YEAR8 A(X ftom the Friday, May 15,-1896 edition of the return to, her cage nest with her amis ful, 'oftenlB perforrning a pratfall in the process.CHOIL Erin found her last Thursday, curled up at the front of Ontario Ladies' College *01l sou a lot of ite old furniture and , iv. furnaces by aufion on the cage, her long round tail held straight out behind. ýShe May 23- had sleek, shiny fur, was well fed, but dead. * Ethoand Pople amottO1-dOn tio s fD.Fnda fhaw!a, who died on May 8 ~servingol amnhas OtaioCountyaeRegistrrofDeedsil We-buried her under the beauty bush in a liglit fall of William Ti la i selling four-leaf tables at $4 eaci at hie furniture etmr. rain. She had been a good pet, a good uncritical friend. I Whitby residents have petitioned the town council to prohibit cattle from running at large neyer thouglit I could shed 'a tear for a.rat., in the streets.