The emotional toll of caring for research animals
In college, one of my friends worked in an animal lab on campus.<p>There were something like 3,000 dogs... all in one building... all penned up from birth.<p>And upon hearing about the 3,000 dogs, I was like, &quot;Can I see them?&quot;<p>So she snuck me in.<p>And they were all bred to have some disorder, I don&#x27;t remember what now, but like the article said... it was fatal.<p>And we got to the lab at like 9 PM and nobody else was there.<p>The dogs were all so happy to see us. God they seemed lonely. They were kept in these little like 10x14 pens, 2-3 dogs per pen. Some dogs were in cages.<p>But like... they were just dogs. Y&#x27;know? Most were just happy and looking to be pet, and it was overwhelming to be there.<p>I got to give some treats.<p>One of the pens had a dead dog in it, and my friend agonized over dealing with it or waiting until her shift officially started -- she didn&#x27;t want to leave the dead dog in the pen, and she didn&#x27;t want people to know she was sneaking her friends in to play with the dogs. So she decided to deal with the dog, and just tell her supervisor she came back for her wallet or something.<p>Anyway, for a kid 2,500 miles away from home... who missed his dogs... it was really nice to have an hour to play with puppies and young dogs.<p>As we were leaving she said that most of the dogs were euthanized at the 6-month mark to check for heart defects, or heart issues. Even the healthy dogs.<p>Fuck it was devastating to hear that.<p>I&#x27;m sure there&#x27;s a reason and I&#x27;m sure we benefit somehow... and a dog who has never seen the sun, and will never see the sun, probably doesn&#x27;t know what all they are missing... but they have to know, right? Like every living thing has to know they weren&#x27;t made to sit in a little pen waiting to die.<p>I don&#x27;t know, just felt like they should be outside, playing in a field, all that stuff... being mentally challenged and taught how to fetch and instead... they were bred just so their hearts would fail, or so they could be killed and dissected to see why their heart didn&#x27;t fail.<p>Most people at the school didn&#x27;t even know there was a dog lab like that on campus.<p>Easier not to think about this stuff.