Surfing Rats?

Hey, I knew rats were clever, but this one takes the cake. I recently came across these photos of a pair of surfing rats. I tried surfing for the first time last year and it was fun, even if was not very successful. I did see a surfing dog during my lesson, but never in a million years would I have thought I'd see a surfing rat! Makes me want to go back to Hawaii, and find this beach, and meet the little beach rats. After the sheer amazement wore off I started to wonder how much rats would really enjoy surfing, but from the accounts these rats don't seem to mind. It does go to show that rats are very intelligent and can be taught simple (or, judging from my surfing experience, pretty complex) tricks. And good for the surfing rats' owner for spending so much time with his rats that they could accomplish this.

Updated to add: I've been reading news stories about the surfer rats online (and some of the accompanying comments) like this one: Surf's up for rat-ical rodents (TimesOnline). Though the majority of comments are supportive, a few people have jumped in and said this is animal abuse. What do you think?

More about Pet Rats:

• Rat Basics
• Care of Pet Rats
• Toys for Pet Rats