SPECIAL RODENTS: A MONUMENT TO LAB RATS AND A SHORT FILM ON RATS

Marty The Rat. Photo: Gele Muis via Pin It.

By Gundhramn Hammer, Yudit Elisabeth S. Trullén & Blanca Irina Ruíz Sánchez

December 24, 2016

Many humans have monuments in their honour. And some of these humans who have them do not deserve them. 

As a matter of fact, they do not deserve a piece of merde! They don´t deserve jack!

On the contraire, nonhuman animals whose lives have benefitted mankind, even have made some people or corporations billionaires, in countless ways do not have any monuments of honour at all. 

Of course, there are exceptions, for religious or commercial reasons.

And nonhuman animals exploited by humans certainly do deserve monuments more than some lousy humans.

Take rats as an example.

Do they have monuments?

As a matter of fact they do! In Russia.

According to Donna Dickens (2013), Russian scientists have recently built a monument to honour lab rats (Fig. 1). 

Figure 1. Russian scientists´ monument to honour laboratory rats. Source: Donna Dickens via BuzzFeed.

Why? 

The lab rat monument is "a symbol of gratitude for their sacrifices to science. Without rodents, many breakthroughs would not have been possible" (Dickens, 2013).

In other words, obviously, it is because millions upon millions of rats have been killed in biology, cosmetic, pharm and medical research laboratories around the world year after year.

Lab rats have been - and still are (e.g., Falck, 2013), which is unfortunately for the animals - part of any scientific, biological and medical endeavour and advancement for a long time.

Numerous books have been written on laboratory rats and mice and other animal models (e.g., Hankenson, 2014; Hau & Schapiro, 2011; Whishaw & Kolb, 2005; Sharp & La Regina, 1998; Sharp & Villano, 2012; Suckow et al., 2006; Krinke, 2000; Baker et al., 1979).

And rats are just one of the many animals humans kill annually. 

Think of the billions of cattle, chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, horses, sheep, etc., which are slaughtered in the abbatoirs worldwide.

Annually, over 9 billion animals were slaughtered in the United States alone in 2014, according to the Humane Society. 

The following chart (Fig. 2) will give you an idea of the level of this animal holocaust.

Figure 2. Total of domestic animals slaughtered in the United States (1960-2007). Source: The Humane Society of the United States.

To the above let us add some more animal holocaust. In those countries where people celebrate Christmas and New Year´s Eve gathering around an animal cadaver on a dining table always means hell for a lot of domestic animals that have been slaughtered for the occasion too (Videos 1-2). 

Video 1. Your turkey sandwich. Uploaded by mercyforanimals.

Video 2. Christmas turkey. Uploaded by billyberie´s channel.

It is neither a "Merry Christmas" nor a "Happy New Year" for these animals!!

Let us wrap it up. Putting the exceptions aside (e.g., cows in India), most animals do not have any monuments to them.

The majority of people just eats them. Most humans do not give a hoot about animal suffering and cruelty ever. 

These cannibalistic folks are impermeable to animal pain.

After all, is the world not a vast field filled with millions of zombies? 

Human zombies, that is.

Anyway, here is a short film about a charming laboratory rat to ponder about this matter. Maybe it will dezombise you a little bit!:

Watch video: Click here.

Hurrah for those humans who love rats!!!

And just in case you are one of those folks who hates animals in spite of eating them, we ain´t talking about eating them!

Hmmm... How about the rats in the sewer?

Regarding rats in the sewage systems, do not forget that rats were not the ones who built these sophisticated mazes to transport our shit away from our homes and dump it into rivers and oceans (Video 1).

Video 1. Crumbling and underground human waste. Uploaded by PBS NewsHour.

We, humans, did. 

Besides, we are not here to talk about zoonoses transmitted by rats (Rattus spp.) either, folks.

But let us face it, as a species, despite all of our fancy washing and bathing to "smell clean", overall we are fucking filthy! We are full of crap! 

If in doubt, go ahead and ask your pooch or your proctologist for a frank opinion.

We still have a lot to learn and a long way to go to live harmoniously with ourselves, amongst ourselves and with everyone else on this planet.

And we are running out of time!


References

Baker H.J., Lindsey J.R. & Weisbroth S.H. (Eds.) (1979). The laboratory rat. Volume I: Biology and Diseases. Academic Press, Inc., New York, NY, USA. 435 pp.

Dickens D. (2013). Russian scientists build monument to honor lab rats. BuzzFeed.com. 3 p.

Falck E. (2013). Genomic and generic alterations in endometrial adenocarcinoma. Önebro Studies in Medicine 81, 46 pp.

Hankenson F.C. (2014). Critical Care Management for Laboratory Mice and Rats. A Volume in The Laboratory Animal Pocket Reference Series. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, USA. 76 pp.

Hau J. & Schapiro S.J. (Eds.) (2011). Handbook of Laboratory Animal Science. Volume II: Animal Models. 3rd Edition. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, USA. 453 pp.

Krinke G.J. (Ed.) (2000). The Laboratory Rat. 1st Edition.  The Handbook of Experimental Animals, Academic Press, London, UK. 756 pp.

Sharp P.E. & La Regina M.C. (1998). The Laboratory Rat. A Volume in The Laboratory Animal Pocket Reference Series. CRC Press, LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA. 204 pp.

Sharp P. & Villano J. (2012). The Laboratory Rat. 2nd Edition. A Volume in The Laboratory Animal Pocket Reference Series. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, USA. 357 pp. 

Suckow M.A., Weisbroth S.H. & Franklin C.L. (Eds.) (2006). The Laboratory Rat. 2nd Edition. American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine Series. Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington, MA, USA. 912 pp.

Whishaw I.Q. & Kolb B. (Eds.) (2005). The Behavior of the Laboratory Rat: A Handbook with Tests. Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, USA. 504 pp.