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China builds monument to the unknown mouse
Most countries honour their war dead, but China has erected a monument for a little thought of but altogether more cuddly martyr -- the mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and monkeys who gave their lives to science.
Far from basking in the glory of scientific achievement after making strides with a potential SARS vaccine, Chinese researchers had taken time to commemorate the furry martyrs who paved the way for safe human testing, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Yin Weiping, chief of the SARS vaccine development programme, said animal testing had been vital in developing the vaccine, which has passed the first stage of human trials.
Accordingly, the Chinese Academy of Medical Science had been graced with a monument to the fallen animals.
It did not give details of the monument or say where it was.
Wuhan University, in the central China province of Hubei, erected a similar monument in September in honour of 38 rhesus monkeys that died in another SARS research programme, Xinhua said.
The civet cat, the brown, furry, weasel-like animal that experts say was the source of the SARS epidemic that has killed some 800 since it emerged in 2002, has not been so exalted.
But the creatures received a reprieve of another sort last month when the government banned the cooking and selling of the cats, which are considered a delicacy in the south.
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