Woodchuck Confidential

Millions of animals die in US labs every year, despite protests and advances in animal-free testing. As a vet, I have spent my life in those animal labs, doctoring the animals on whom we still depend for new cancer cures, HIV treatments, and the vaccines we will need for the next global pandemic that is surely coming. In one ear have been the animal rights activists who claim we no longer need animal labs and who work to expose the animals’ suffering. In the other ear, research defenders list the medical advances they have developed in animal labs, assuring us that modern welfare laws guarantee that the animals are in good hands. The reality I have seen through my years backstage in the labs is that animal research is still essential for medical progress, though less than the hype its defenders put out. And animals suffer greatly for our science, though they do not endure quite the wanton cruelty the animal activists proclaim.

In Woodchuck Confidential, I bring readers behind the scenes to meet the animals. I examine why scientists continue to rely on them and explore how animal behaviorists are leading the way to better animal welfare in labs. I show the ways in which our current laws and policies fail to meet the ethical challenge that we must never harm animals without strong justification.