Erm, there is a dead rat on my bike

My research involves performing animal experiments. I work with rat models. So needless to say, it also involves sacrificing animals for the sake of science. It isn't a pleasant thing to do, but it's one of the many things science demands.

At least in the US, the most transfer of animals I had to do was limited within one building. However, China is a different story. First, to get approval has been a long process. They had to do a special training for me in English... Our first preliminary study involved just some characterization, so not an extensive experiment. My lab mate told me to meet him at lab and then we would proceed. So I biked to lab and on getting there he told me that we need to go to the Life sciences building. The life sciences building is a 5-10 minute bike ride  from my lab. So we headed off there. My lab-mate is essential here, he speaks Chinese and can communicate with the animal lab official who don't speak English.We get there, and the officials first hand us a live rat. This is the conversation that follows:

Me (M) - Why did they give us a live rat?
Labmate (L) - We asked for a live rat
M - We need to sacrifice the rat, we can't take a live rat back to lab (which is 10 mins away)
L - What, we don't?
M - How do we sacrifice a rat at our lab? (Our lab is mainly cellular biology)
L - Don't we bleed it to death ?
M - NOOooOoOOOoo
L - Oh.
M- Erm...
L - So what do we do?
M - Can you ask them if they have a method to do it here in the animal lab?
Much conversation in Chinese ensues
L - There is another way, they have CO2
(I heave a sigh of relief, I did not want to deal with a bloody rat)
M - That works
L - Okay

So then they sacrifice the rat, and put it in a shoe box with some bedding and hand it to us...
Now my lab-mate is holding a cardboard box with a dead rat body inside. And we still need to get back to lab. We come outside the life sciences building and then he goes - "Oh, your bike has a basket". We then arrange the cardboard box with a dead rat inside it on my bike and we head back. (While I am screaming inside my head, there is a dead rat on my bike)

That is the story of how I got a dead rat on my bike.

(When our animal numbers increased, we could no longer bike due to the need of a "bigger box". Now we walk a whole 15 mins, when it is below freezing outside to get more samples back in a bigger thermocol box that once housed some machine...)