‘Mutant Rabbit’ Goes Missing at University of Michigan Laboratory
“an animal caretaker noted that a transgenic rabbit was missing from the vivarium”
The rabbit is still believed to be at large.
From the Motherboard at Vice:
‘Mutant Rabbit’ Lost By University of Michigan Laboratory, FOIA Docs Show
A series of bizarre and fatal mishaps—including the vanishing of a “mutant rabbit” and the killing of more than 11,000 zebrafish with bleach—plagued an animal testing laboratory at the University of Michigan last year, according to federal documents.
They reveal that, within a six month period in 2018, the laboratory accidentally bleached more than 11,000 zebrafish, killed 53 mice of dehydration, and mistakenly allowed nine mice to develop cancer.
The records were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by the advocacy group Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), and were reported on Friday by Michigan news site MLive.
Each of the strange events was described by the university in a separate letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, which provides oversight to recipients of grant funding.
In one letter, dated May, 7 2018, officials described the rabbit incident, saying that “an animal caretaker noted that a transgenic rabbit was missing from the vivarium.” After conducting a search for the animal in other rooms and even the ventilation system, they determined that “the location of the animal is unknown.”
The exact project involving the rabbit was not specified in the letter.
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Comments
Did Jimmy Carter tour the laboratory just before the rabbit went missing?
You beat me to making a Jimmy Carter remark…
I know where the mutant rabbit is. I saw him and talked with him, but nobody else seems to be able to see him. He’s over six feet tall, and claims to be a “pooka”, whatever that is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(film)
I suspect someone took home a pet rabbit.
At a smaller school, the book would be thrown at them. These big schools get off the hook with a slap on the wrist.
What is a “transgenic” rabbit?
It used to be a carrot.
I’m assuming it’s something like one of those Transformer people.
Probably went just a bit north to Barton Hills, lots of rich folks there with plenty of free carrots.
So during a 6 month period, a series of incidents, some of which certainly sound like they could be inside-job sabotage, occur. And, entirely coincidently, an animal-rights group files a FOI request for that time period, the revealed incidents damaging the research groups reputation and chances of future funding. Curious.
Any new student hires should perhaps be looked at quite closely to see if they perhaps (or their girl/boyfriends) had means, opportunity, and motive (check social media for one thing).
Also, isn’t this sort of thing how killer virus plagues and zombie apocalypses get started – scientists doing research and bone-headed “activists” violating safety protocols to commit sabotage stupidly dooming us all?
I think I know where he is. There was a teenage mutant samurai rabbit that was hanging with some Ninja Turtles!
I bet it was a GFP transgenic that a stoner took home so that they could light it up with UV and watch it hop around the room in the dark. That would be really kewl.
As far as I know, every single case of animal abuse at a University was done by an animal rights plant. I just hope that the person who tied the monkey to the chair got their face ripped off in the process. Monkeys are like ferrets on cocaine on a “good” day.
Can’t say much about zebra first or rabbis, but mice, I can write about. I worked at a small place that had a small vivarium. We probably had over a thousand mice. U of M has many times more. It’s a huge research place. In the grand scheme of thousands of mice, 53 dying of dehydration and nine getting cancer is a pretty small percentage.
But, it all gets reported to the IACUC, who reviews they animal protocols. If a lab member screws up on their protocols, the IACUC usually makes some demands on them to ensure better compliance. People have been kicked out of the vivarium for failing to comply with their lab’s protocols.
The zebra fish thing is more likely an idiot working in the vivarium. Who probably got let go immediately afterwards.