These are the creatures we kill with poison and carry experiments on.

Those mice have a sculpture as well[0].

Nobody likes experimenting on animals, but it is use mice or orphans in third world countries. In silico and computational models are just not a good enough analogue for the human body.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_laboratory_mou...

Well it's good to be honest, and so I commend you on that.

So the hierarchy is

- our kids

- "third-world orphans"

- other species

For what it's worth, I'm not denying the benefit we obtain by testing on animals, nor am I suggesting that we live surrounded by rodents that we know to be vectors for multiple diseases that would affect us.

The comment above was merely an observation on the value of life and how little attention we pay to it.

We subject sentient beings to untold amounts of horror every day, and we are completely destroying the balance of life on earth with a system that is entirely devoted to serving humans--individual humans, not humanity.

The statue is not the point. The point is what this little creature did and how we might learn to show mercy and respect to our fellow sentient beings.

Correct. These are the creatures that will ruin your home/barn if infested with them.

Source: recently finished getting rid of a rat infestation in my barn. they also reproduce at a crazy rate. Some poison + getting two barn cats = problem solved.