Rats on the floor

There are rats on the floor today.

When I started working in the psychiatry department, I was told that experiments are done with rats for research, but that no rats are ever on the floor in which I would work on, and that I would never see them.

This has been the case, and still holds true for psychiatry, but neurology happens to share the floor with us and they definitely have rats on the floor today. I heard them. I saw cages with a sheet covering them. At least this time there was a sheet, as the last (and first) time I ever saw rats in their research cages was last summer. They happened to have been left, with no sheet over top of them, right next to the main entrance onto our floor. (Which is by key only.)

It was incredibly disturbing, as they were racing back and forth within the cages, many of them climbing up the sides. I am a supporter of research, and when thinking of the alternatives of either not doing any research or of testing on humans, I am in favor of using lab rats. I do not, however, ever hope to see them again.

In other news, Iowa, you rock today. Look here for an article in the New York Times regarding Iowa being the first midwest state to legalize same-sex marriage.