Photo by Devi Puspita Amartha Yahya

In the wild, a mouse or rat leads a precarious life. In the city, they dodge traps, poisons, and broom-wielding humans. In the countryside, they face owls, shotguns, and more poison. As Australia’s deputy prime minister once declared during a nationwide mouse plague, “The only good mouse is a dead mouse.” Yet even that grim existence might be preferable to the fate of those born in cages—bred by the millions each year for use in laboratories across the United States.

More than 111 million mice and rats are used, abused, and killed annually in biomedical research in the U.S. alone. These highly intelligent rodentsaccount for 99 percent of all laboratory animals, but they have no legal protection under the federal

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