People are going to bring animals onto the subway. Should the T fight it or accept it?

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A few weeks ago, while riding the Orange Line in the middle of the day, a somewhat ragged man a few seats away from me began … well, how do I put this? Caressing a rat.

Yes, literally.

He seemed to be whispering to, possibly kissing, a small, docile rodent in a bag in his lap.

We both got out at State, and I followed a step behind him as he headed in the direction of … The Boston Globe.

Is this a new coworker? Great.

Then, to my relief, he veered away. And I forgot about it until Friday, when MBTA Transit Police said they’d arrested a 57-year-old man “well known” to police for threatening other passengers with his pet rat, Jerry (and also for drinking and being disorderly).

I can’t say for sure it’s the same person (or the same rat), though I’d like to imagine that there aren’t that many rat-cuddling T passengers. The same individual appears to have been escorted off a bus last year.

Now, I know that some people consider rats to be widely misunderstood and unfairly maligned. Why is someone carrying a quiet, well-behaved rat on a train any more alarming than someone with a yappy, rat-sized dog? (T policy requires small animals to be in pet carriers, incidentally, not carried by hand.)

An animals-on-the-T story comes along every few years. You may remember Penelope the 4-foot Dumeril’s boa, who disappeared on the T in 2011 only to resurface weeks later; Red Line trains apparently afford enough edible material to sustain a snake for a month. In New York City, a pair of escaped kittens caused two hours of delay on the subway in 2013 and a classic New York Post cover.

Melissa Moorhouse and husband, Ray, with their boa, Penelope, after the pet was found on the T in April 2011.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

By coincidence, another Globe staffer recently traveled to Copenhagen and reported that the metro system there charges fares for dogs.

There’s clearly a growing sense of entitlement among pet owners, who seem to believe they ought to be allowed to bring their pets anywhere. And stories abound of dubious “emotional support” animals passengers insist on bringing on planes or into other public spaces.

Perhaps it’s an untapped revenue stream for the T as it looks to absorb the financial impact of post-pandemic ridership losses. Charge per dog and by the foot for snakes. As for rats — well, whatever trouble he might have caused later, the rat owner that I saw a few weeks ago didn’t hurt anyone on that ride.

Besides, once snakes are allowed on the train, they’re going to need something to eat. Sorry, Jerry.