I Photographed Ex-Lab Rats And Mice Going Outdoors For The First Time, And Their Expressions Say It All
Last summer I photographed mice and rats. Well, nothing special, are you thinking? Let me add a detail which made this session unique: for them, it was the first time ever outside a cage, open air.
My little models were test animals, just saved by La Collina dei Conigli, Italian charity based near Milan.
Every year in Italy, hundreds of thousands of animals die in laboratories. Some are used for lethal tests, but most could be saved: many are used for experiments from which they could easily recover and restart normal life, others are not actually used in test, but are kept in laboratories as a surplus of safety or control, and once the experiment has ended they become “a useless expense” for labs .
Italian law allows experimental laboratories not to kill healthy and ‘salvable’ animals, but to release them to individuals or charity, like La Collina dei Conigli. Retirements are agreed by the association directly with trial laboratories through delicate negotiations, which often entail shortages of many animals at a time.
La Collina dei Conigli has specialized in the recovery of rabbits and critters, dealing with them from the lab’s exit to (hopefully) a new life in a family.
I have been supporting this charity for years now with my pictures as a volunteer photographer (I am also a proud member of HeArts Speak network, a nonprofit organization that’s uniting art and advocacy to increase the visibility of shelter animals – “Creating a world where no shelter animal goes unseen” is their motto).
In the last years, I took inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, Fairytales… this time, I decided to picture the best story ever, because, even if there’s so much wrong around, sometimes, reality can become better than fiction.
So no special effects, but something better: the surprise when these little critters feel the sun on their fur for the first time, their curiosity for a brand new world to discover, how deeply they enjoy their first moments of freedom, led and protected by volunteers, who are always by their side on the long path to recovery…
Shy ones, little warriors, curious explorers, cuddle-lovers: everyone acted in a different way when taken outdoors, and they showed once again that they are not mere numbers, as they are considered in labs, but individuals with peculiar attitudes and personalities.
That very hot day in August was their first time outside the cages, and I feel grateful to have witnessed such a great moment of rebirth!
More info: Facebook
Big foot
So… is this above the famous “sky”?
Grateful
Breathing and smelling!
Little Bros
Who are you?
Contemplating
Loving cuddles
Hold me
Curious guy
Exploring
Safe now
I’ll protect you…
Enjoying the moment
I love you!
Tell me the story of how you rescued me, again…
So many things to see
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It makes me so incredibly sad that these lovely little personalities were abused by humans and it makes me so happy that they were saved. However not all Lab animals will be given out so freely, which means there are still so many of those little guys suffering. Thanks for at least make some of their lives better. Ratties make lovely and funny pets and they are so clever!
Most lab rats and other animals we use to test medicine one have better lives than most pets. And to all the people who think we abuse these animals, are you vegan? We abuse the animals we consume. Lab animals have food, toys, a clean cage and companions. It is sad we have to kill them in order to get medicine for cancer and stuff, but I don't think any of you would reject a cure for cancer.
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I really can't understand people who love everything fluffy except for rats and mice. I mean, how could you hate these little guys? It's not their fault that their ancestors spread diseases.
I know a lot of people get creeped out by their tails, too. It’s a shame because they make great pets. I’d definitely adopt a couple rats if I didn’t have a terrier that would be hunting them!
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I have had pet rats, they are brilliant and so very loving. Thank you for taking the time to allow these guys an experience they will cherish forever!
I have been wanting a pet rat for the longest. And finally last week I was able to buy one, now I have two of the most loving and intelligent little guys ever. Seeing this post made me incredibly happy, yet still sad that people continue to use them in such a disgusting manner.
They are indeed! Thank you for reading ❤
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this breaks my heart these poor fur babies deserve better they deserve love and loving homes they have hearts like us humans and being a mum yes thats right i call my self a mum to my fur babies which includes mice hamsters and a lot of others yes i am vegan and proud and yes would love a cure for cancer but not at the expence of hurting these fur babie's xxx
Meanwhile, we shall keep fighting...until all the cages are empty, until they are all free. 10914663_8...db7d25.jpg 
I honestly hate what people do to some of the animals in labs, that they can go outside again and have another chance is great.
Very cute pics, but to all the people complaining about the suffering and torture lab animals endure: how many millions, if not billions of human lives have been saved because of it? And yes, I realize make up testing and other non-essentials don't save lives
To be blunt, I support the struggle those animals face (I couldn’t begin to imagine their pain), but to justify one being’s suffering to ease another is total b******t. Yes it is sad when a child or adult dies, but they’re mourned what about the poor animals that suffered to find a cure were they moured? No, they’re a forgotten statistic and that’s the awful part. So screw medicine if it means medicine is found like this.
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As someone who had pet rats when i was a child i can tell you they are intelligent, loving, caring animals with shitloads of personality. Lab life for any animals is pure f****n hell, Kip what are you talking about lab animals have a better life than pets?, do any basic research on it and you will see by its very nature its a cruel, unforgiving world. You know the standard tests they do on rats is toxic poisoning (they basically die slowly being poisoned), burn experiments & cold experiments (like the nazis Japanese did during WW2), they are electro shocked to death, giving cancerous tumors and left to suffer slowly....i could go on and on but it is anything but ok. Dogs, monkeys and rabbits are legally allowed to have any sort of cosmetic dripped raw into one of their eyeballs with no form of anesthetic and they will compare the 2 eyes over the next few days while it bleeds and ulcers. It is f****n outrageous and disgusting and this is just a small description of the suffering.
I have only encountered a pet rat once. It was in the waiting room at the veterinarian's office. I was pretty amazed. It was not confined or restrained in any way, yet made zero effort to get away from its owner. The owner was kind enough to let me handle it and it was adorable. Everything I have read about them since has impressed me. They are empathetic and form deep emotional bonds to their owners, to the point of having separation anxiety when their owner is away. While some of those claims were anecdotal, there is scientific literature to back some of it up. e.g. - "The Emotional Lives of Rats: Rats Read Pain in Others' Faces" from Psychology Today.
love rats, they are really smart and affectionate, uses to have a few many years ago as pets, used to take mini pearl out in my purse all the time
First of all THANKS to everyone who supported by rescuing these tiny little voiceless souls from their hellish conditions. I cannot fathom HOW & WHY these so called BOGUS researchers still continuing to torture, inflict, dissect, & eventually let these poor animals die while suffering in horrific pains. When are they going to realize these poor innocent animals are also another formation of living breathing souls AS SAME AS YOU & ME? It is simply a different shape, body, genes, habits, etc. Other than that they too love to be loved as same as you & me. People who says that the LAb animals are being treated better than pets are pure delusional. The way most of the lab animals are being treated like OBJECTS. They are being kept as PURE MEDICAL ornaments & DAILY INJECTIONS, INSERTIONS, Cuts & bruises done to them are endless. Please google & check how these animals are being tortured & tormented. You will be shocked.
http://vsuete.com/monument-to-laboratory-mice/monument-to-lab-mouse-in-novosibirsk-russia-photo-by-by-irina-gelbukh/ Monument-t...23cfab.jpg 
(continued) Rats are known be very emotional, social animals, very caring of each other and humans they bond with, it is widely accepted they feel fear and joy just like we do. Why can we not use convicted rapists and peadophiles for tests instead of causing suffering to these intelligent rodents.
THIS IS AMAZING AND ADORABLE I JUST REALLY WANT TO HUG THE RATS (and the people that rescued them) RIGHT NOW!!!
When I attended WHMIS classes and found out how the arrive at the toxicity levels for chemicals it absolutely broke my heart. I loves me some science, but the medical s**t we do to animals is nuts. There has to be a better way. I can't imagine giving a rat cancer on purpose, type deal. I could never do that. How about we enjoy animals from a distance instead of experimenting on them and eating them?
ALL life is precious. These pics are over-the-world beautiful and inspiring. You are an angel. Thank you so much for sharing these.
my Grandaughter did her school speech on why animal testing should be stopped she got 3rd in her interschool comps , the announcer said it should be read to our parliament
I wish I could take my girls out like this... they would probably get so exited and run off my shoulder or out of my hands! Can't take that risk but maybe if they can stay still for long enough I can get them in harness. Are they all your pets or are you finding people with pet ex-lab rats/mice? Great job! Keep it up!
I just cried a little. Thank God there are people like these who care about all creatures great and small
Thank you for sharing and doing this work. I love rats and mice and it is so horrible to know what men are doing and have done to them throughout history.
Okay it sounds all nice and noble and everything but NOT ONE photo has the mice being able to explore their new world on their own. Every single photo has someones hands all over them. Sorry but if she really wanted to photograph them on their first time... let them feel the ground and the grass under tiny little feet. Let them smell the earth and soil. Let them meander through a meadow. Then take their photo.
This is so beautiful; thank you for sharing their first taste of freedom and love. What all beautiful, sentient beings deserve. Thank you for understanding
I am glad they are saved, and have a happy life now, People have to stop abusing animals
I love rats and mice like my guinea pigs, I Love all animals except spiders, but I always respect them and would never kill one of them. Every animal has its place in nature - that’s what humen should respect!
great work in doing what your doing! any animal regardless of size is a living creature and deserves a happy life free from harm. This type of action really makes me angry. I cant thank people like you enough for doing what you do. Thanks for spreading the word and helping to fight animal rights and animals against testing! We should be able to name the products/brands who use animals for testing so we can make an informed consumer choice.
It's wow and sad at the same time. Wow because their expressions just mesmerise you and sad because of what they had to go through. My sister had a pet mice - white one and it was the most adorable one...
Growing up, I had "little critters" from Hamsters, gerbils, rabbits and yes even a pair of rats named Ernie and Bert. I loved them as much as one would love a dog or a cat. These pictures brought back some happy memories for me, but also made me so incredibly sad for those used in experiments. I understand the reason they are used but I hate it that we have to use living beings to get the results. So, if your apartment complex doesn't allow pets (dogs or cats) find out if you can have the little guys. They make excellent pets and are as warm and cuddly as their bigger friends!
I know lab animals have saved human lives, but it's still sad that any animal has to spend it's life caged up. Dogs, rabbits, and pigs are also used in labs. I don't like zoos either.
Aww..that’s why I love my lil man. I’ve had rats for years. So smart and sweet
The rats like chimps, rabbits and Beagles, each deserve the FREEDOM to be themselves. Use our prison system for testing, after all just like lads, they are kept in a small, area complete with toileting and a place to sleep. They are fed, medically cared for and even when out of their cage, they can socialize with the others of their kind. While one type is animal is freed for the testing rigors and pain, another **ANIMAL** would take its place. The pics here are really fantastic but the satire of humor makes it perfect to free the poor animals now being tested on while using an available source we are all paying for now!! CUDOS to the photog!!!
Reminds me of the hamsters I had, when I was a little kid. My grandfather died in early 1961, after which I was a little bit afraid of the dark in my bedroom. One night, I woke up and distinctly felt a ghost running his fingers up and down my body! I was petrified. I threw back my blankets, jumped up, and turned on the light. I didn't see anything, so I started to straighten my blankets, and -yes, you've guessed it -- wrapped up in my blankets was my male hamster. Apparently, it had been running up and down my body to interact with me in some way. (Asking for food?)
My niece had a couple of pet rats. They were large and white and they were intended to be lab rats. At any rate, she got them, obviously, before they were destroyed as they had been declared excess or otherwise not useful. They were two of the cutest, sweetest little animals you could imagine. They were clean and had no odor of any kind. The only real "problem" was their two year lifespan. As lab rats, they needed to age rapidly and show results quickly. But that's a story for another time.
I´m absolutely against animal testing, there´re many alternatives, in Germany alone about 150.000 animals are "used" in tests, and most of them don´t survive the tests, about 4.000 of them´re rats, a few years ago a law´s been passed that says no animal testing for cosmetics anymore, but the cosmetic industry found a back door: As soon as a product contains any medically active substance, this can f. ex. be a simple vitamin, or any nano particles, they declare the tests as medical tests here now!!! 😭😭😭 I´m really glad these precious rats survived the tests and have been released from the lab, glad they found a loving home, in 2004 I almost adopted a neutered domestic rat couple, but then I still hought I was too sick to care for ANY pet, so another home´s been found for them, if only I had known how good furbabies are for me and my health, found this out when I fostered tabby and white Merlin for a close private cat care/protection org for a while, afterwards I adopted Gizzy from Gi
OMG half of my comment´s been cut off, here´s the rest: afterwards I adopted Gizzy from Gizzy, Thori and Sisi, da second hand kittehz as my first own pet (at the end of Oct. in 2010) since I had had to give my last 3 budgies to the local shelter in 1992 or 1993 because I had become allergic against their feather dust, since Gizzy´s here I only had 3, maybe 4 mild flares of my Systemical Lupus Erythematosus, before Gizzy´s ben here I had heavy ones that came with a huge weight loss too every time every 1-2 months or more often...Thori came here at the end of May in 2013, Sisi at the beginning of July in 2014!!! 💖💖💖 (Commented on Homer Blind WonderCat´s FB page)
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Wonderful shots, tragic knowing what these little critters might have endured before those great shots.
i have nothing against rats or other lab animals,but im just asking,is it safe to realese them in the wild..im guessing some scientist made test on them and things like that..injected them with all kind of substances...now im asking as an animal lover,is it safe ti realese this kind of animals in the nature?
They're not wild originally though, by the looks of them they are fancy rats which are bred as pets, and not the ones you see in subways etc.
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Rats are such beautiful and precious animals!!! Why anyone would want to harm one is beyond me, but thank you for helping these ones
This just makes me so, so, so very sad. The sheer volume of suffering us humans put animals through is nothing short of staggering.
Proof if you should actually need it that NO animal should be used for testing. It is so cruel and wrong.
This is awesome! Thank you for the lovely pictures, they brought a smile to my face. Hi Rachele, in case you read this, do you know what the recovery work consists in? Additionally, you've said that hopefully, after they leave the labs, the rats can become part of a family. Do you mean a human family? Is it because after a whole life living in cages they can't fend for themselves? I feel torn about the new fad about pet rats and other wild animals. When it comes to rats, on the one hand I believe the trend has helped to dissipate long lasting prejudice against rats. On the other hand, I don't feel comfortable with the idea of people buying rats, owls, hedgehogs, etc. because they are cute and in fashion, when they belong into the wild and this also seems to promote the infamous japanese wild animal-cafes, illegal trafficking, etc. I'm totally ignorant about the ex-lab rats situation, though, but I've been wondering and I would love to know more about this.
Wait... but these are not wild rats, these are the domesticated variation of the rat aka. fancy rats. They ARE pets, not wild animals.
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I almost cried! So lovely! Those little noses and whiskers just made my day! Every life matters!
In pictures like these, they are adorable, but, if I found one in my house, I'd freak out !
Hi Nancy! I was a bit suspicious too before my first meeting, several years ago, but it took just a second to be conquered by their intelligence, curiosity and sweetness. Maybe you'll find they make lovely life companions too ☺ Thank you for reading and looking!
Load More Replies... You can say that about every animal though. Plus rats don't spread diseases like that anymore, and contrary to the popular belief, rats are actually very particular about staying clean!
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Animal experiments are flawed, animal experiments are unreliable, animal experiments are dangerous to human health. Just yesterday it was revealed in a recent BMJ study that 48 cancer drugs approved between 2009-2013, 57% of uses showed no benefits and some benefits were ‘clinically meaningless’. How many animals were sacrificed in their experiments? Thousands. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/05/over-half-of-new-cancer-drugs-show-no-benefits-for-survival-or-wellbeing
I agree, but unsarcastically. Money spent on cures is mostly wasted anyway. The real life savings are in early detection and more importantly prevention, but prevention requires more vegetables and less Taco Bell so I guess we'll have to keep torturing animals to find a cure.
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It makes me so incredibly sad that these lovely little personalities were abused by humans and it makes me so happy that they were saved. However not all Lab animals will be given out so freely, which means there are still so many of those little guys suffering. Thanks for at least make some of their lives better. Ratties make lovely and funny pets and they are so clever!
Most lab rats and other animals we use to test medicine one have better lives than most pets. And to all the people who think we abuse these animals, are you vegan? We abuse the animals we consume. Lab animals have food, toys, a clean cage and companions. It is sad we have to kill them in order to get medicine for cancer and stuff, but I don't think any of you would reject a cure for cancer.
Load More Replies... I really can't understand people who love everything fluffy except for rats and mice. I mean, how could you hate these little guys? It's not their fault that their ancestors spread diseases.
I know a lot of people get creeped out by their tails, too. It’s a shame because they make great pets. I’d definitely adopt a couple rats if I didn’t have a terrier that would be hunting them!
Load More Replies... I have had pet rats, they are brilliant and so very loving. Thank you for taking the time to allow these guys an experience they will cherish forever!
I have been wanting a pet rat for the longest. And finally last week I was able to buy one, now I have two of the most loving and intelligent little guys ever. Seeing this post made me incredibly happy, yet still sad that people continue to use them in such a disgusting manner.
They are indeed! Thank you for reading ❤
Load More Replies... this breaks my heart these poor fur babies deserve better they deserve love and loving homes they have hearts like us humans and being a mum yes thats right i call my self a mum to my fur babies which includes mice hamsters and a lot of others yes i am vegan and proud and yes would love a cure for cancer but not at the expence of hurting these fur babie's xxx
Meanwhile, we shall keep fighting...until all the cages are empty, until they are all free. 10914663_8...db7d25.jpg
I honestly hate what people do to some of the animals in labs, that they can go outside again and have another chance is great.
Very cute pics, but to all the people complaining about the suffering and torture lab animals endure: how many millions, if not billions of human lives have been saved because of it? And yes, I realize make up testing and other non-essentials don't save lives
To be blunt, I support the struggle those animals face (I couldn’t begin to imagine their pain), but to justify one being’s suffering to ease another is total b******t. Yes it is sad when a child or adult dies, but they’re mourned what about the poor animals that suffered to find a cure were they moured? No, they’re a forgotten statistic and that’s the awful part. So screw medicine if it means medicine is found like this.
Load More Replies... As someone who had pet rats when i was a child i can tell you they are intelligent, loving, caring animals with shitloads of personality. Lab life for any animals is pure f****n hell, Kip what are you talking about lab animals have a better life than pets?, do any basic research on it and you will see by its very nature its a cruel, unforgiving world. You know the standard tests they do on rats is toxic poisoning (they basically die slowly being poisoned), burn experiments & cold experiments (like the nazis Japanese did during WW2), they are electro shocked to death, giving cancerous tumors and left to suffer slowly....i could go on and on but it is anything but ok. Dogs, monkeys and rabbits are legally allowed to have any sort of cosmetic dripped raw into one of their eyeballs with no form of anesthetic and they will compare the 2 eyes over the next few days while it bleeds and ulcers. It is f****n outrageous and disgusting and this is just a small description of the suffering.
I have only encountered a pet rat once. It was in the waiting room at the veterinarian's office. I was pretty amazed. It was not confined or restrained in any way, yet made zero effort to get away from its owner. The owner was kind enough to let me handle it and it was adorable. Everything I have read about them since has impressed me. They are empathetic and form deep emotional bonds to their owners, to the point of having separation anxiety when their owner is away. While some of those claims were anecdotal, there is scientific literature to back some of it up. e.g. - "The Emotional Lives of Rats: Rats Read Pain in Others' Faces" from Psychology Today.
love rats, they are really smart and affectionate, uses to have a few many years ago as pets, used to take mini pearl out in my purse all the time
First of all THANKS to everyone who supported by rescuing these tiny little voiceless souls from their hellish conditions. I cannot fathom HOW & WHY these so called BOGUS researchers still continuing to torture, inflict, dissect, & eventually let these poor animals die while suffering in horrific pains. When are they going to realize these poor innocent animals are also another formation of living breathing souls AS SAME AS YOU & ME? It is simply a different shape, body, genes, habits, etc. Other than that they too love to be loved as same as you & me. People who says that the LAb animals are being treated better than pets are pure delusional. The way most of the lab animals are being treated like OBJECTS. They are being kept as PURE MEDICAL ornaments & DAILY INJECTIONS, INSERTIONS, Cuts & bruises done to them are endless. Please google & check how these animals are being tortured & tormented. You will be shocked.
http://vsuete.com/monument-to-laboratory-mice/monument-to-lab-mouse-in-novosibirsk-russia-photo-by-by-irina-gelbukh/ Monument-t...23cfab.jpg
(continued) Rats are known be very emotional, social animals, very caring of each other and humans they bond with, it is widely accepted they feel fear and joy just like we do. Why can we not use convicted rapists and peadophiles for tests instead of causing suffering to these intelligent rodents.
THIS IS AMAZING AND ADORABLE I JUST REALLY WANT TO HUG THE RATS (and the people that rescued them) RIGHT NOW!!!
When I attended WHMIS classes and found out how the arrive at the toxicity levels for chemicals it absolutely broke my heart. I loves me some science, but the medical s**t we do to animals is nuts. There has to be a better way. I can't imagine giving a rat cancer on purpose, type deal. I could never do that. How about we enjoy animals from a distance instead of experimenting on them and eating them?
ALL life is precious. These pics are over-the-world beautiful and inspiring. You are an angel. Thank you so much for sharing these.
my Grandaughter did her school speech on why animal testing should be stopped she got 3rd in her interschool comps , the announcer said it should be read to our parliament
I wish I could take my girls out like this... they would probably get so exited and run off my shoulder or out of my hands! Can't take that risk but maybe if they can stay still for long enough I can get them in harness. Are they all your pets or are you finding people with pet ex-lab rats/mice? Great job! Keep it up!
I just cried a little. Thank God there are people like these who care about all creatures great and small
Thank you for sharing and doing this work. I love rats and mice and it is so horrible to know what men are doing and have done to them throughout history.
Okay it sounds all nice and noble and everything but NOT ONE photo has the mice being able to explore their new world on their own. Every single photo has someones hands all over them. Sorry but if she really wanted to photograph them on their first time... let them feel the ground and the grass under tiny little feet. Let them smell the earth and soil. Let them meander through a meadow. Then take their photo.
This is so beautiful; thank you for sharing their first taste of freedom and love. What all beautiful, sentient beings deserve. Thank you for understanding
I am glad they are saved, and have a happy life now, People have to stop abusing animals
I love rats and mice like my guinea pigs, I Love all animals except spiders, but I always respect them and would never kill one of them. Every animal has its place in nature - that’s what humen should respect!
great work in doing what your doing! any animal regardless of size is a living creature and deserves a happy life free from harm. This type of action really makes me angry. I cant thank people like you enough for doing what you do. Thanks for spreading the word and helping to fight animal rights and animals against testing! We should be able to name the products/brands who use animals for testing so we can make an informed consumer choice.
It's wow and sad at the same time. Wow because their expressions just mesmerise you and sad because of what they had to go through. My sister had a pet mice - white one and it was the most adorable one...
Growing up, I had "little critters" from Hamsters, gerbils, rabbits and yes even a pair of rats named Ernie and Bert. I loved them as much as one would love a dog or a cat. These pictures brought back some happy memories for me, but also made me so incredibly sad for those used in experiments. I understand the reason they are used but I hate it that we have to use living beings to get the results. So, if your apartment complex doesn't allow pets (dogs or cats) find out if you can have the little guys. They make excellent pets and are as warm and cuddly as their bigger friends!
I know lab animals have saved human lives, but it's still sad that any animal has to spend it's life caged up. Dogs, rabbits, and pigs are also used in labs. I don't like zoos either.
Aww..that’s why I love my lil man. I’ve had rats for years. So smart and sweet
The rats like chimps, rabbits and Beagles, each deserve the FREEDOM to be themselves. Use our prison system for testing, after all just like lads, they are kept in a small, area complete with toileting and a place to sleep. They are fed, medically cared for and even when out of their cage, they can socialize with the others of their kind. While one type is animal is freed for the testing rigors and pain, another **ANIMAL** would take its place. The pics here are really fantastic but the satire of humor makes it perfect to free the poor animals now being tested on while using an available source we are all paying for now!! CUDOS to the photog!!!
Reminds me of the hamsters I had, when I was a little kid. My grandfather died in early 1961, after which I was a little bit afraid of the dark in my bedroom. One night, I woke up and distinctly felt a ghost running his fingers up and down my body! I was petrified. I threw back my blankets, jumped up, and turned on the light. I didn't see anything, so I started to straighten my blankets, and -yes, you've guessed it -- wrapped up in my blankets was my male hamster. Apparently, it had been running up and down my body to interact with me in some way. (Asking for food?)
My niece had a couple of pet rats. They were large and white and they were intended to be lab rats. At any rate, she got them, obviously, before they were destroyed as they had been declared excess or otherwise not useful. They were two of the cutest, sweetest little animals you could imagine. They were clean and had no odor of any kind. The only real "problem" was their two year lifespan. As lab rats, they needed to age rapidly and show results quickly. But that's a story for another time.
I´m absolutely against animal testing, there´re many alternatives, in Germany alone about 150.000 animals are "used" in tests, and most of them don´t survive the tests, about 4.000 of them´re rats, a few years ago a law´s been passed that says no animal testing for cosmetics anymore, but the cosmetic industry found a back door: As soon as a product contains any medically active substance, this can f. ex. be a simple vitamin, or any nano particles, they declare the tests as medical tests here now!!! 😭😭😭 I´m really glad these precious rats survived the tests and have been released from the lab, glad they found a loving home, in 2004 I almost adopted a neutered domestic rat couple, but then I still hought I was too sick to care for ANY pet, so another home´s been found for them, if only I had known how good furbabies are for me and my health, found this out when I fostered tabby and white Merlin for a close private cat care/protection org for a while, afterwards I adopted Gizzy from Gi
OMG half of my comment´s been cut off, here´s the rest: afterwards I adopted Gizzy from Gizzy, Thori and Sisi, da second hand kittehz as my first own pet (at the end of Oct. in 2010) since I had had to give my last 3 budgies to the local shelter in 1992 or 1993 because I had become allergic against their feather dust, since Gizzy´s here I only had 3, maybe 4 mild flares of my Systemical Lupus Erythematosus, before Gizzy´s ben here I had heavy ones that came with a huge weight loss too every time every 1-2 months or more often...Thori came here at the end of May in 2013, Sisi at the beginning of July in 2014!!! 💖💖💖 (Commented on Homer Blind WonderCat´s FB page)
Load More Replies... Wonderful shots, tragic knowing what these little critters might have endured before those great shots.
i have nothing against rats or other lab animals,but im just asking,is it safe to realese them in the wild..im guessing some scientist made test on them and things like that..injected them with all kind of substances...now im asking as an animal lover,is it safe ti realese this kind of animals in the nature?
They're not wild originally though, by the looks of them they are fancy rats which are bred as pets, and not the ones you see in subways etc.
Load More Replies... Rats are such beautiful and precious animals!!! Why anyone would want to harm one is beyond me, but thank you for helping these ones
This just makes me so, so, so very sad. The sheer volume of suffering us humans put animals through is nothing short of staggering.
Proof if you should actually need it that NO animal should be used for testing. It is so cruel and wrong.
This is awesome! Thank you for the lovely pictures, they brought a smile to my face. Hi Rachele, in case you read this, do you know what the recovery work consists in? Additionally, you've said that hopefully, after they leave the labs, the rats can become part of a family. Do you mean a human family? Is it because after a whole life living in cages they can't fend for themselves? I feel torn about the new fad about pet rats and other wild animals. When it comes to rats, on the one hand I believe the trend has helped to dissipate long lasting prejudice against rats. On the other hand, I don't feel comfortable with the idea of people buying rats, owls, hedgehogs, etc. because they are cute and in fashion, when they belong into the wild and this also seems to promote the infamous japanese wild animal-cafes, illegal trafficking, etc. I'm totally ignorant about the ex-lab rats situation, though, but I've been wondering and I would love to know more about this.
Wait... but these are not wild rats, these are the domesticated variation of the rat aka. fancy rats. They ARE pets, not wild animals.
Load More Replies... I almost cried! So lovely! Those little noses and whiskers just made my day! Every life matters!
In pictures like these, they are adorable, but, if I found one in my house, I'd freak out !
Hi Nancy! I was a bit suspicious too before my first meeting, several years ago, but it took just a second to be conquered by their intelligence, curiosity and sweetness. Maybe you'll find they make lovely life companions too ☺ Thank you for reading and looking!
Load More Replies... You can say that about every animal though. Plus rats don't spread diseases like that anymore, and contrary to the popular belief, rats are actually very particular about staying clean!
Load More Replies... Animal experiments are flawed, animal experiments are unreliable, animal experiments are dangerous to human health. Just yesterday it was revealed in a recent BMJ study that 48 cancer drugs approved between 2009-2013, 57% of uses showed no benefits and some benefits were ‘clinically meaningless’. How many animals were sacrificed in their experiments? Thousands. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/05/over-half-of-new-cancer-drugs-show-no-benefits-for-survival-or-wellbeing
I agree, but unsarcastically. Money spent on cures is mostly wasted anyway. The real life savings are in early detection and more importantly prevention, but prevention requires more vegetables and less Taco Bell so I guess we'll have to keep torturing animals to find a cure.
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