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to put these deaths into perspective. Estimates vary widely, put-
ting the numbers between seventeen and eighty million a year.^4
The vast majority of these animals—about 85 percent—are rats and
mice. The remaining 15 percent include other small rodents, dogs,
cats, rabbits, monkeys, and chimpanzees. Mice and rats are consid-
ered the “heroes” of modern biomedical research, routinely “sacri-
fi ced,” to use the industry’s term, by the millions.^5 In this light, why
should the deaths of a few thousand mice in a disaster even raise an
eyebrow?
In this chapter, I argue that their deaths should do more: they
should raise objections and outrage. Animal research is funded
with large sums of private and public money. When animals die in
experiments, it is with the understanding that there was some pay-
off, in human terms, for the loss. I say this is the “understanding”
because I recognize that many would argue that animal research
has not benefi ted humans. I do not intend to settle that matter here,
but I want to point out that, regardless of the actual payoffs of ani-
mal research, the assumption is that it does bring benefi t. However,
when animals destined for research die in disasters, there is no pay-
off and no accountability for the loss. The animals are replaced, at
great expense, even if the facility in which the replacement animals
are used makes them vulnerable to the same hazards. This process
is especially likely to occur when the animals involved are rats and
mice, who are not even defi ned as “animals” under the federal Ani-
mal Welfare Act. Thus, there are signifi cant scientifi c, ethical, and
moral problems with animal research, and along with these are also
political problems. No case provides a better example than that of
the laboratory rats who were victims of Tropical Storm Allison.
F
or two weeks in early June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison drenched
the Gulf Coast region. As it moved across Texas, it stalled over
Houston for several days, dropping record amounts of rain on the
fl ood-prone area. On Friday, June 8, the storm moved north, giving
residents the impression that the worst had passed. Later that same
day, however, Allison drifted south again, dumping torrential rain
on the area throughout the early morning hours of Saturday, June