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dogs and cats.^34 The article, entitled “Concentration Camps for Lost
and Stolen Pets,” exposed the abuse and neglect at the “farm” of a
Maryland dealer who obtained “subjects” for research programs. In
response largely to the articles, Congress passed the Laboratory Ani-
mal Welfare Act (Public Law 89-554) in 1966, authorizing the U.S.
Department of Agriculture to regulate the “handling, care, treat-
ment, and transportation of animals by dealers and research facil-
ities.” The act applies to dogs, cats, and “certain animals intended
for use in research facilities.” It defi nes “animal” as “live dogs, cats,
monkeys (nonhuman primate mammals), guinea pigs, hamsters,
and rabbits.”^35 Amendments added in 1970 shorten the law’s name
to the Animal Welfare Act and defi ne an “animal” as “any live or
dead dog, cat, monkey (nonhuman primate mammal), guinea pig,
hamster, rabbit, or such other warm-blooded animal.”^36 A 2002
amendment removed any vagueness about which species consti-
tutes “animals” by “specifi cally excluding birds, rats of the genus
Rattus, and mice of the genus Mus, bred for use in research.”^37 In
other words, the Animal Welfare Act covers only six species used
in research—dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, rabbits, hamsters,
and guinea pigs—but not those used most often and in the great-
est numbers. Notably—and conveniently—it excludes the very ani-
mals researchers have created. By excluding “purpose-bred” mice
and rats, the act makes moral status rest on the animals’ reason for
being in the lab, as if it were a matter of their choosing.^38
The exclusion of purpose-bred animals and their rapidly
increasing use in research points to a paradox in animal welfare
policy. There has always been some public opposition to the most
inhumane uses of animals in experiments, and this opposition
prompted researchers to seek ways to quell some of the criticism.
The solution is known as the Three R’s: researchers should reduce
the number of animals used in experiments, refi ne procedures to
minimize animal pain and suffering, and replace animal subjects
with nonanimal alternatives where scientifi cally feasible.^39 The
Three R’s represent an attempt to minimize animal suffering in
ways that still permit research. During the sweeping 1985 amend-
ments of the Animal Welfare Act, Congress incorporated the Three