Marc Bekoff,
Psychology Today - Animal Emotions
April 2017
Scientists should lead the way in putting rats, mice, and other animals back where they belong—namely, in the animal kingdom. They should mandate an immediate biologically based corrective to the AWA. Whenever alt-facts are presented as real facts, researchers and others should vigorously and openly protest these lies.
The Federal Animal Act maintains rats and mice are not animals, but they are.
Scientists like facts. Isn't that what scientific research is all about?
However, nowadays, alt-facts have become vogue, and are often thrown around
as if they are, well, real facts. They're not, they're "demonstrable
falsehoods." While my colleague Jessica Pierce and I were writing an essay
about our new book called The Animals' Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and
Coexistence in the Human Age1, she recalled how the authors of the current
version of the Federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) have decided that various
animals, including laboratory rats and mice, are not animals.
Thus, in the 2002 iteration of the AWA we read:
"Enacted January 23, 2002, Title X, Subtitle D of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, changed the definition of 'animal' in the Animal Welfare Act, specifically excluding birds, rats of the genus Rattus, and mice of the genus Mus, bred for use in research."
That rats and mice are animals is indisputable. This twisted biology is
not some relic from the past, but rather the current way in which rats and
mice are viewed. So, why don't researchers get up in arms and do something
about how these sentient rodents and other animals are misclassified? They
talk about the usefulness of animal models, but they don't consider rats and
mice to be animals. However, we know from detailed scientific research that
rats and mice display empathy and rats laugh, like to be tickled, and enjoy
playing. And mice can read pain in the faces of other mice. (For more on the
cognitive and emotional lives of rats and mice, see "The Animal Welfare Act
Claims Rats and Mice Are Not Animals," "Lab Rat's Pinker and Relaxed Ears
Tell Us They're Feeling OK," and links therein.)
It's worth recasting the misrepresentation of these rodents and other
animals in light of the regrettable current popularity of alt-facts. The
phrase "alt-facts" really is a metaphor for lies. So, why do researchers
allow this to happen? Why don't they demand that the AWA be rewritten
immediately? One reason is that the money-driven animal-industrial breeding
industry and the careers of many scientists do well to have them removed
from the animal kingdom. This allows rats and mice to be horrifically abused
as if they were non-feeling objects. This is a classic—some might say
iconic—example of how animal welfare patronizes other animals. It's a
self-serving and shameful sham.
All in all, the way in which rats and mice are dissed sets a frightening
precedent. When I tell first-graders about this they laugh, until they
realize that I'm not lying. Some enjoy the presence of a companion rat at
home, and have wonderful stories to tell about their furry friends.
Scientists should lead the way in putting rats, mice, and other animals back where they belong—namely, in the animal kingdom. They should mandate an immediate biologically based corrective to the AWA. Whenever alt-facts are presented as real facts, researchers and others should vigorously and openly protest these lies.
Marc Bekoff’s latest books are Jasper’s Story: Saving Moon Bears (with Jill Robinson); Ignoring Nature No More: The Case for Compassionate Conservation; Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation; Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence; The Jane Effect: Celebrating Jane Goodall (edited with Dale Peterson); and The Animals’ Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and Coexistence in the Human Age (with Jessica Pierce). Canine Confidential: An Insider’s Guide to the Best Lives For Dogs and Us will be published in early 2018. Marc's homepage is www.marcbekoff.com.
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