Rats Rebutted

Poor rats. William Jordan (“A Rat’s Niche,” Feb. 1) finds that because they have become similar to humans in many respects, “it is not surprising that rats are used universally in medical research.” How lucky can an animal get? The closer they are to us, the more compelled and justified we feel in burning, vivisecting, starving, electrocuting, frustrating, isolating and drowning them; inducing insanity, forcing cannibalism, filling them with all the products we make, addicting them, and injecting them with cancer, AIDS and anything else.

Eternal shame and opprobrium on humans. And fie on The Times for once again conning us with an article that seems pro-animal on the surface but ends up condoning our abuse of other species.

Rachel Rosenthal

Los Angeles