The Year of the Rat and Thinking Differently About These Rodents

The cover photo from my previous blog, "Roderama"

Having written "Roderama," my blog about rats and other small creatures, I have been concerned about what we do to rats in labs. While I still do not want rats in my house, the things I have learned about them has made me feel a certain respect for their socialness, intelligence, memories — and especially knowing that they actually laugh. In my book, "Treading Water," I dedicate a whole section to those blog stories about them and other "critters" I have encountered in My House of Rhyming Pests.

In this, the Year of the Rat, I was considering writing something about my complicated feelings about rats. I am still working on that.  In the meantime, this writer must have had some of those same feelings, and makes a powerful point about using other sentient beings in laboratory experiments. 

Why Don't Rats Get the Same Ethical Protection as Primates?