Finally got to tour the animal facility today. The facility has mice of all kinds... black, white, brown, albino, and transgenic mice babies which are about the size of jelly beans. Unfortunately I'll only get to work with the hideous kind, the ones that resemble a miniature version of the naked mole rat. Maybe I'll have less sympathy when it comes time to sacrifice them... no, I kid, it'll be very saddening when the time comes.
One thing that was disconcerting about the Animal Care Manual... it states that the policies are aimed at minimizing health concerns for the animals, but according to the protocol, tumors grown on the mice are only considered problematic when they exceed 2cm in diameter. Now, 2cm compared to the relative size of the mice (average mice here is about 4cm long), is about half the body length. If it were me, I don't think I would be pleased to have tumor that's half my body size growing on me.
:O I didn't realize how inhumane labs were. A tumor half the size of the mice? Scary.
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