The Hidden Lives of Lab Animals: A Vet's Vision for a More Humane Future

“Larry Carbone has spent his entire career thinking about what happens to animals in research labs. As a veterinarian with specialization in lab animal medicine, he has made friends with many caged creatures: monkeys, pythons, mice, shrimp. But he also has a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science, which gives him theoretical grounding to consider big ethical questions.”

― Nautilus

“Thoroughly examines the numerous challenges that both laboratory animal veterinarians and scientists face when deciding which animals to use in their studies and how to ensure the welfare of those animals is both protected and enhanced.”

― WellBeing International

“This book is beautifully written in an easy-to-read style. It is thought-provoking and provides a comprehensive view of animal research from the point of view of someone with a veterinary background and a passion for treating animals that have nonconsensually given their lives for us. It would prove to be a rewarding read for aspiring lab animal vets, scientists who use animals in their work, and other stakeholders.”

― Science Magazine

“In his semi-autobiographical work, Larry offers a vision for more compassionate research while discussing both heartening medical successes and heartrending stories of animal suffering.”

― Psychology Today

“With clarity, balance, and no compromises , the text addresses in a thorough, transparent, and informative manner the many aspects that affect animal experimentation . Through Carbone’s words and testimony, readers will be able to navigate the intersection of science and animal rights, well-being and pain, achievements and mistakes, speciesism and sentience, ethics and politics.”

― Corriere della Sera

“Challenges some of the most widely held beliefs and assumptions within the field, particularly about . . . equating animal contributions to research to their necessity for the research; using Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement (the 3Rs) as a framework for animal research ethics; and viewing the provision of enrichment as above the standard of care rather than as part of the standard of care.”

― JAALAS Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science

“Carbone wishes there weren’t even a role for lab animal veterinarians. He spent his career working to better the lives of animals in labs because, as he writes in his book, the reality is they are there, and he expects they’ll continue to be there for some time.”

― STAT News

“Larry Carbone’s book is essential reading for people who will serve on animal care and use committees and determine which experiments with animals should be allowed. Get the insider’s view from a veterinarian who practiced forty years in university biomedical labs. The answers are not simple. Animal research has led to great medical breakthroughs, but there are other experiments which probably should not be conducted. Carbone outlines steps that labs should take to provide better lives for laboratory animals. He states, ‘My conclusion is that animal labs are still necessary if we want continued medical progress. They are more essential than animal activists portray but less so than researchers claim.’ This is an insightful, important book that everybody who is interested in how animals are treated should read.”—Temple Grandin, Distinguished Professor of Animal Science, Colorado State University, and author of Animals in Translation

“Carbone is widely recognized as a laboratory animal vet and an animal advocate. He’s also a gifted writer, and his book is essential reading for individuals on all sides of the animal research debate. Carbone brings to the table a unique combination of extensive experience as a laboratory animal veterinarian and a national reputation as a first-class scholar and an animal advocate who cares deeply about the welfare of other species.”—Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals

“Carbone captures our complex relationship with animals, blending ethology, medicine, and ethics in a sensitive, powerful narrative that will open both hearts and minds.”—Brian Hare, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, and coauthor of The Genius of Dogs and Survival of the Friendliest

“A charming and insightful first-person perspective on the murky world of lab animal research that rightly puts the animals front and center, and provides a nuanced discussion of the many ethical and scientific elements that are relevant. There is not another book that is remotely like this.”—Dan Weary, Professor and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Dairy Cattle Welfare, University of British Columbia