Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every three months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Links to the full text for publications that appear in open access journals or are published on the AWI website are provided under the abstract.

Tips for using the database:

  • This landing page displays all of the publications in the database.
  • Use the drop-down menus to filter these publications by Animal Type and/or Topic.
  • Clicking on a parent category (e.g., Rodent) will include publications relating to all the items in that category (e.g., Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea pig, etc.).
  • You may also add a keyword to further narrow your search.
  • Please note that at this time, only publications dated 2010 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Animal Type and Topic. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
Luna, D., González, C., Byrd, C. J. et al. 2021. Do domestic pigs acquire a positive perception of humans through observational social learning? Animals 11(1), 127.
Farm animals can perceive humans positively by observing another animal being positively handled. This study evaluated whether pigs acquire a positive perception of humans after observing either a high or low socially ranked conspecific receiving...
Hayes, M. E., Hemsworth, L. M., Morrison, R. S. et al. 2021. Effects of positive human contact during gestation on the behaviour, physiology and reproductive performance of sows. Animals 11(1), 214.
Previous positive interactions with humans may ameliorate the stress response of farm animals to aversive routine practices such as painful or stressful procedures, particularly those associated with stockpeople. We studied the effects of positive handling...
Tuozzi, A., Arhant, C., Anderle, K. et al. 2021. Effects of human presence and voice on the behaviour of shelter dogs and cats: A preliminary study. Animals 11(2), 406.
Reading books to shelter animals combining auditory enrichment with human presence is increasingly used although its effects on animal welfare have not yet been investigated. This study compared the behaviour of single-housed shelter dogs and...
Ly, L. H., & Weary, D. M. 2021. Facial expression in humans as a measure of empathy towards farm animals in pain. PLoS ONE 16(3), e0247808.
People often express concern for the welfare of farm animals, but research on this topic has relied upon self-report. Facial expressions provide a quantifiable measure of emotional response that may be less susceptible to social...
Sørensen, D., Cloutier, S., Gaskill, B. (Eds.). 2021. Animal-centric Care and Management - Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and...
Rooney, H. B., Schmitt, O., Courty, A. et al. 2021. Like mother like child: Do fearful sows have fearful piglets? Animals 11(5), 1232.
Gestational and early life experiences affect subsequent behavioural and physical development. The objective of the current study was to investigate associations between gilts’ fear of humans, gestational stress level, and feeding and maternal behaviour, as...
Hayes, M. E., Hemsworth, L. M., Morrison, R. S. et al. 2021. Positive human contact and housing systems impact the responses of piglets to various stressors. Animals 11(6), 1619.
This experiment studied the effects of lactation housing systems and human interaction on piglets’ responses to routine stressors. Forty litters of piglets were reared in either a standard farrowing crate (FC) or a loose farrowing...
Majecka, K., Pąsiek, M., Pietraszewski, D. 2020. Behavioural outcomes of housing for domestic dog puppies (Canis lupus familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 222, 104899.
Domestic dogs experience a sensitive period for learning during early life and conditions during this time can have important consequences in the adult. We investigated the effects of kennel environment during early life, comparing the...
Wang, C., Chen, Y., Bi, Y. et al. 2020. Effects of long-term gentle handling on behavioral responses, production performance, and meat quality of pigs. Animals 10(2), 330.
In order to investigate the effect of gentle handling on the behavior, performance, and meat quality of pigs from weaning to slaughter, 144 6-week-old weaned hybrid Min piglets (a native breed) were selected and divided...
Bensoussan, S., Tigeot, R., Meunier-Salaün, M.-C. et al. 2020. Broadcasting human voice to piglets (Sus scrofa domestica) modifies their behavioural reaction to human presence in the home pen and in arena tests. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 225, 104965.
The human-pig relationship develops through visual, tactile, olfactory, and auditory interactions. Our objective was to determine the effect of human voices on the development of the human-pig relationship. We hypothesised that human voice facilitates the...
de la Garza, F., Cannon, C. Z. 2020. Piggy see, piggy do: A swine training program enhances animal welfare and research. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(2) (March/April), 54-57.
Becton Dickinson (BD) Animal Research Program developed an extensive training and environmental enrichment program to acclimate newly arrived swine to daily husbandry routines. The program seeks to build trust between swine and animal care and...
Acaralp-Rehnberg, L. K., Coleman, G. J., Magrath, M. J. L. et al. 2020. The effect of behind-the-scenes encounters and interactive presentations on the welfare of captive servals (Leptailurus serval). Animals 10(4), 743.
The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a small African felid that is well represented in zoos and often serves as an animal ambassador in encounter programs with zoo visitors. The impact on serval welfare in relation...
Reinhardt, V. (ed.) 2020. It’s Okay to Cry - Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum [LAREF], Volume V. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.
This is the 5th volume of selected discussions that took place on the electronic Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum between February 2016 and December 2019. The forum was created in October 2002; it allows...
Pérez Fraga, P., Gerencsér, L., Andics, A. 2020. Human proximity seeking in family pigs and dogs. Scientific Reports 10(1), 20883.
Family dogs (Canis familiaris) seek human contact from an early age, can discriminate and prefer their caregivers over other humans. To investigate if being kept as a family animal is sufficient to induce similar early...
Hennessy, M. B., Willen, R. M., Schiml, P. A. 2020. Psychological stress, its reduction, and long-term consequences: What studies with laboratory animals might teach us about life in the dog shelter. Animals 10(11), 2061.
There is a long history of laboratory studies of the physiological and behavioral effects of stress, its reduction, and the later psychological and behavioral consequences of unmitigated stress responses. Many of the stressors employed in...
McMahon, S. A., Wigham, E. 2020. ‘All Ears’: A questionnaire of 1516 owner perceptions of the mental abilities of pet rabbits, subsequent resource provision, and the effect on welfare. Animals 10(10), 1730.
Pet rabbit welfare is a hidden crisis: Inappropriately housed, fed, and not routinely provided healthcare—rabbits can often suffer painful conditions and shortened lifespans. This study provides novel understanding of owners’ perceptions of rabbits’ mental capabilities...
Rault, J.-L., Waiblinger, S., Boivin, X. et al. 2020. The power of a positive human–animal relationship for animal welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 590867.
Domestic animals often seek and enjoy interacting with humans. Positive human–animal relationships can elicit positive emotions and other positive welfare outcomes. Nevertheless, our understanding of the underlying processes that govern the positive perception of humans...
Villain, A. S., Lanthony, M., Guérin, C. et al. 2020. Manipulable object and human contact: Preference and modulation of emotional states in weaned pigs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 577433.
Enriching the life of farm animals is a legal obligation in intensive farming conditions in the European Union, though not worldwide. In pigs, manipulable materials are mandatory when no bedding is available. Like manipulable objects...
Marcet-Rius, M., Pageat, P., Bienboire-Frosini, C. et al. 2020. The provision of toys to pigs can improve the human-animal relationship. Porcine Health Management 6, 29.
It is now widely recognised that a positive human-animal relationship is beneficial not only for farm animals’ welfare but also for productivity and the quality of products. A better understanding of animal emotions is an...
Bensoussan, S., Tigeot, R., Lemasson, A. et al. 2019. Domestic piglets (Sus scrofa domestica) are attentive to human voice and able to discriminate some prosodic features. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 210, 38-45.
Vocal communication is of major social importance in pigs. Their auditory sensitivity goes beyond the intraspecific level; studies have shown that domestic pigs are sensitive to and can learn to recognise human voices. The question...
Edwards, P. T., Smith, B. P., McArthur, M. L. et al. 2019. Fearful Fido: Investigating dog experience in the veterinary context in an effort to reduce distress. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 213, 14-25.
For many dogs, receiving veterinary care can be a stressful, fearful or traumatic experience. However, understanding and improving the veterinary experience for dogs is challenging due to the dynamic nature of the veterinary visit, the...
Learmonth, M. J. 2019. Dilemmas for natural living concepts of zoo animal welfare. Animals 9(6), 318.
This ethical discourse specifically deals with dilemmas encountered within zoological institutions, namely for the concept of natural living, and a new term—wilding. It is agreed by some that zoos are not ethically wrong in principle...
Sherwen, S. L., Hemsworth, P. H. The visitor effect on zoo animals: Implications and opportunities for zoo animal welfare. Animals 9(6), 366.
Achieving and maintaining high standards of animal welfare is critical to the success of a modern zoo. Research has shown that an animal's welfare is highly dependent on how various individual animal factors (e.g., species...
Semin, G. R., Scandurra, A., Baragli, P. et al. 2019. Inter- and intra-species communication of emotion: Chemosignals as the neglected medium. Animals 9(11), 887.
Human body odors contain chemosignals that make species-specific communication possible. Interspecies communication studies were conducted on dogs and horses subjected to human chemosignals produced in happiness and fear emotional states. Dogs showed behaviors consistent with...
Willen, R. M., Schiml, P. A., Hennessy, M. B. Enrichment centered on human interaction moderates fear-induced aggression and increases positive expectancy in fearful shelter dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 217, 57-62.
Some otherwise non-aggressive dogs may display fear-induced aggression under stressful conditions. Admittance to an animal shelter is a stressful experience for dogs, and aggression is often used as a criterion by shelters for precluding opportunities...

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