Nyan Cat Cake

One of my "favourite" quotes is actually a comic-strip from Advaitatoons.blogspot.com by Bob Seal (bobseal.com) and reads:

The Great Way is not difficult for those that have no preferences. When Love and Hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

Source: http://advaitatoons.blogspot.com/search/label/tao

Wrong about the rats & the bubonic plague. Yes it's the fleas on the rats that are mainly responsible for infecting humans, but it's the rats that carry them around. A flea sucks blood from an infected rat, jumps to another rat and infects that rat etc. So in other words: the more rats, the more fleas that are carried around that spread the disease. No rats, no bubonic plague.

And pestilence is still alive and kicking today. In fact they are still monitoring the rat population in certain areas around the world to make sure we don't get another epidemic.

"Climate changes associated with global warming favor outbreaks of bubonic plague in areas where humans live in close proximity to infested rats or fleas."
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/environmental_law/2006/08/another_byprodu.html

It is wrong to hate any fellow earthling, they all have a place and a reason to exist. Live and let live.

Agreed. But what if those "fellow earthlings" don't agree to let YOU live?

I own 3 rats as pets and they behave very similarly to dogs. They come when you call them, some like to cuddle, they like being pet and do tricks for food.

It is possible to exterminate 'pests' without hating them. But perhaps you should say a little thanksgiving and thank the creature for giving its life for yours.