Dutch behavioral biologist Maarten 't Hart, hired by Herzog for his expertise with laboratory rats, revealed that, after witnessing the inhumane way in which the rats were treated, he no longer wished to cooperate. Apart from traveling conditions that were so poor that the rats, imported from Hungary, had started to eat each other upon arrival in the Netherlands, Herzog insisted the plain white rats be dyed gray. To do so, according to 't Hart, the cages containing the rats needed to be submerged in boiling water for several seconds, causing another half of them to die. The surviving rats proceeded to lick themselves clean of the dye immediately, as 't Hart had predicted they would.
It’s not like they needed all 11000 of them. Half of them died from being submerged in boiling dye… Surely, it would have been easier with half a magnitude smaller quantity.
Holy shit.
At what point do you just buy gray rats? Where in the cost benefit analysis does boiling rats in ink come in?
I guess when buying 11000 rats you are somewhat constrained in your choice of color. It’s not like you can order them made in a custom color.
It’s not like they needed all 11000 of them. Half of them died from being submerged in boiling dye… Surely, it would have been easier with half a magnitude smaller quantity.