In 1966, Life magazine featured dogs enduring horrid conditions while waiting to be sold to research labs. Public outcry after the article appeared led to passage of the federal Animal Welfare Act. This law and other regulations address our concerns by specifying the care required for research animals, as well as the conditions under which they may be acquired and used for medical research. My job is also part of the structure dictated by the Animal Welfare Act. I am a veterinarian, and caring for laboratory animals is my chosen field.
Good care is the norm in research animal facilities.
People tend to focus on dogs or monkeys, but it is mice and rats that account for well over 90 percent of all research animals. Rodent caging is becoming increasingly high-tech. In the newest units, each cage individually receives filtered air-flow, to prevent disease and to eliminate waste moisture. Yet we also add low-tech accouterments, such as cotton material for rodents to shred and nest in, and plastic tubes for them to climb through and hide in. Caging and husbandry originally designed to meet researchers' needs now are being designed to better meet the animals' needs.