On 29/8/2003, Michelle Banonis wrote:

>I have one brown rat (with a fuzzy tail, which is odd)

If it has a noticeably hairy tail, it's not one of the two eurasian
pest rats. Could it be a bushy-tailed woodrat? Since you're in a
natural enough area to have douglas squirrels, other native rodents are
certainly possible.

<http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/mammalogy/mamwash/neci.html>

Can you get some pictures, or live trap it for ID? Other possibilities
would be one of the other woodrats, though they aren't native here, or
maybe an escaped exotic pet.

If it's a woodrat, you do want to keep it out of your buildings (they
chew, and make large collections, but don't do nearly as much damage as
eurasian rats), but otherwise I'd just enjoy it. Especially if you can
find the nest, which can be impressive, and be an apartment house for
other species, too. Besides which, woodrats are a favorite owl prey.
So by keeping him, you're still likely to be feeding the birds :-).
--
Allyn Weaks allyn at tardigrade.net Seattle, WA Sunset zone 5
Pacific NW Native Wildlife Gardening: http://www.tardigrade.org/natives/
"The benefit of even limited monopolies is too doubtful, to be opposed
to that of their general suppression." Thomas Jefferson