ANIMAL welfare workers are appealing for information after two pet rats were found abandoned.
The pair of brown and white male rats were found in a cardboard box by a man walking his dog on the site of the Cape Insulation factory, in Bowburn, near Durham, on Thursday evening.
Realising they were pets, he contacted the RSPCA, which is keeping them at its animal centre at Great Ayton, in North Yorkshire.
RSPCA inspector Graeme Foggin appealed for information on how they came to be abandoned.
He said: "We are looking for information about why they were dumped where they were. The box was not sealed so they could have escaped if they wanted to, but they were obviously too scared.
"They were a bit out of the way so it was lucky the guy found them as they definitely would not have survived if they had been left much longer."
Anyone with information about the rats is asked to call (08705) 555999.
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