Despite assumptions to the contrary, a basement is no place for a few thousands rats and mice. After learning that as many as 10,000 rodents perished in the basement of a research center run by NYU Langone Medical Center during Hurricane Sandy earlier this week, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is asking the US National Institutes of Health to investigate the hospital for failing to ensure the safety of the furry little creatures.
The reason the drowning of these rodents made headlines, by the way, is because they were being used for research for studying heart disease, cancer, autism and schizophrenia, among other ailments. And they were reportedly carefully bred, which made them quite valuable. But the NYU hospital, which is located on the east side of midtown Manhattan, thought its basement could withstand surges 20 percent higher than what occurred historically
And PETA believes NYU was negligent. “It appears that even though it had ample notice, NYU may not have had or executed an adequate disaster preparedness plan for animals in its laboratories, as required by federal animal welfare policy,” the group wrote in a letter yesterday to Patricia Brown, who heads the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare. And PETA believes many of the rodents were used in research funded by the NIH.
This probe won’t go anywhere, as we all know the hospital did all in its power to prevent this disaster, and even if you want to play devil’s advocate and claim the researchers didn’t care at all (which is bullshit), this disaster set back the research, and funding Months, if not years, and probably will cost a lot of money, even with insurance.
Still the big point is “why were the animals in the basement?” Easy, so they were out of sight, and therefore out of the cross-hairs by militant animal rights advocates like Peta, ELF, and ALF. I’ve worked in several animal husbandry labs, and in my career interviewed with even more. They’re all behind locked doors, they’re all hidden from public view, and they do all they can to keep things a secret. Also most of them have disclaimers you have to sign to make sure you have never worked for those groups because they’ve gone so far as to plant moles in facilities.
Sorry Anti-Science extremists, but the blood of those animals are on your hands!
h/t Mrs. Weer’d
