Refinement typically is viewed as a means of reducing harms to animals used in laboratory research. Examples of recent research on refinement include improved methods of handling and euthanasia. Focus in the animal welfare literature...
High levels of ambient noise can have detrimental effects on laboratory animal wellbeing and may affect experimental results. In addition, excessive noise can reduce technician comfort and performance. This study was performed to determine whether...
Throughout the nearly 50 year history of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) Guide, little attention or content was allocated to the subject of enrichment until the current (8th) edition (NRC 2011). Although animal...
Originally enacted in 1966, the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act has been amended several times and renamed the Animal Welfare Act. Responsibility for administering the Animal Welfare Act was delegated within the United States Department of...
Enrichment is therefore not the bighearted largess that much of the research community seems to believe it is. Rather, it represents an obvious step towards creating a decent life for research animals and minimizing avoidable...
Wooden objects are often used as nonhuman primate enrichment to provide variety and novelty, promote exploratory behavior, and supply an outlet for curiosity. However, concerns have been raised regarding the ability to sanitize wood by...
European Directive 2010/63/EU requires that accommodation and care are refined so as to minimize suffering, and that the lifetime experience of the animal is taken into account when assessing the actual severity of procedures. So...
Multiple species, study protocols and user needs make it difficult to develop a one-size-fits-all approach to standardizing enrichment. Fortunately, it turns out that there is a very simple solution to the complex issue of getting...
In an ideal world, of course, it would be nice to have the time and resources to prove everything scientifically and in many cases this is also the right approach. However, sometimes the use of...
The field of laboratory animal enrichment is continually evolving. New enrichment products, methodologies, and protocols are being developed, revised and updated daily, and for good reason: enrichment is a critical component to improving and maintaining...