Addiction Food supports animals coming out of research establishments through being a valued carer with Liberty Foundation Australia. I found out about this group in 2018 through a mutual friend who told me there were rats needing a good home.

I was put in touch with Paula, who runs Liberty Foundation and she organised for me to meet the three rat girls looking for a home. She said they needed to be with someone experienced with rats and I was up for the challenge.

They turned out to be absolute sweethearts and I was able to adopt the three girls and provide them with a happy home where they could explore to their heart’s content, including lots of nest building, climbing, jumping and plenty of cuddles. Unfortunately they were not able to do those things in their life in the research lab.

After the girls passed away we were lucky enough to be able to adopt another rat from Liberty Foundation, this time a boy rat who we named Banjo. He is still with us and makes us smile everyday with his antics. He has also featured in many of the videos put out by Liberty Foundation that help people to understand more about the work they do.

I’m glad to be able to help Paula prove to the research community and society at large that animals from research establishments can not only achieve quality of life after research but make really wonderful pets and companions.

They deserve to have a good life and it’s up to us to provide them with somewhere to go that will support them to just be themselves.