Animals in Research Facilities / 91enough force placed strategically to result in instant death. Alter-
natively, they die in sticky traps, which are “essentially a rodent
form of fl ypaper.”^17 They become stuck on strong adhesive and
their struggles to escape only cause more of their body surface to
adhere. Anyone fi nding a mouse or rat on a sticky trap can see evi-
dence of suffering. Treating a dog, cat, or other animal to a death
by poison or entrapment would constitute cruelty, by the laws of
any state. No one mourns the deaths of mice and rats considered
pests, rather than pets.
Neither does anyone mourn the deaths of mice raised to feed
carnivorous species, such as snakes (and some lizards and toads).
Most snakes must eat live prey. For snakes in captivity, “feeder”
mice can be adults, juveniles, or newborns, called “pinkies” because
they are still hairless. The competition between prey and predator
in captivity, both of whom can hold the same status as pets, raises
unique moral issues. To feed the snake, the mouse must die. If the
mouse lives, the snake will starve. The mouse’s fate depends on
whether we considered him or her food or pet. The people who feed
the snake might feel disgust or fascination about the act of feed-
ing live prey, but no one who grieves for the mouse can care for
snakes for very long. Finally, tremendous numbers of mice exist as
research tools. They are not considered research subjects, for doing
so would grant them far more agency than they have. These mice
are not pets; they do not count as individuals. Indeed, individuality
is exactly what scientists strive to avoid in what are known as “ani-
mal models.” The mouse’s journey to the animal-model-of-choice
illustrates how scientists regard them, how the strength of the sci-
entifi c discourse infl uences popular thought, and why they die in
such large numbers, whether in disasters or ordinary laboratory
experience.
Producing Mice, Producing Science
The species of mouse most commonly used in laboratories is the
white mouse, or the albino strain of Mus musculus. Originally from
Asia, mice spread across Europe and came to the New World as