Bunny and I

I'm in love with a rabbit that can't be mine. I've visited him at the pet shop twice now, and each time, he stares at me longingly through the glass cage that confines him. Hopping in circles trying to let off energy that he's gathered from long confinement alone in a too-small cage. He paws the glass and tries to lick at my hands.

Yesterday, I was in the lab whilst another student was working with a live rat. Well, it wasn't destined to remain alive of course. That's not the issues here, but rather I thought the poor thing remained alive far too long.

I've never seen any evidence of animal cruelty in research. But it seems to me that sometimes, in the interest of 'humane animal treatment', we perhaps end up treating animals less humanely because of our feelings of sorrow for the animal.

For example, if I was a lab rat, I'd prefer that whatever was going to happen to me, happened quickly.

What I wouldn't want, is to be placed on a cold hard clinical lab bench under bright fluorescent light, after I'd just been born and have no fur or body temperature regulation. Because the researcher was putting off culling me.

What I wouldn't want is to be excessively handled and stroked with 'gentle fingers' (in human terms, not baby rat terms). Because the researcher thought I was cute and was putting off culling me.

What I definitely wouldn't want, is to be injected with a 'thin' gauge needle (ie. stabbed with a sword) to anaesthetise me. Because the researcher thought this would lessen my pain.

What's the alternative? Beheading a baby rat sounds barbaric. But if you think about it, instant death is far less barbaric that stabbing a tiny rat with a massive gauge needle and pouring what would amount relatively to litres of drug into its body, and letting it sit on a cold hard bench whilst you 'wait for the drug to take effect'. Then you behead it anyway.

I once found a poisoned twitching mouse, and my family stared at me with horror when I quickly killed it by breaking its neck, a technique that I'd been taught at university. I want to go quickly when it happens.

Lab rats are not pets. They may be cute and cuddly, but the moment you start thinking like that, you're going to upset yourself, and more importantly do more harm to the animal than is necessary.

In the case of Bunny and I, any help that I could give him would only benefit his life situation. A slightly bigger cage... Free time to hop around the house and stretch his legs. More company... Some outside air.

Lesson: Get yourself a pet and don't think about the lab rats.