All/General

Challenges and expectations on the use of automated home cage monitoring for advancing laboratory animal care and welfare

COST Action TEATIME unites experts to advance automated monitoring technologies for laboratory animals, with a focus on Home Cage Monitoring (HCM) systems. The use of HCM has great potential to revolutionise welfare monitoring by enabling continuous, non-invasive tracking of physiological...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Tremoleda, J. L., Brønstad, A., Potschka, H. et al. 2026. Challenges and expectations on the use of automated home cage monitoring for advancing laboratory animal care and welfare. Laboratory Animals 60(1), 25–30.

One size does not fit all: Guidelines for designing a score sheet for animal experiments – eight essential steps

The EU Directive 2010/63 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, as well as the Swiss Animal Welfare Legislation, demand monitoring and documentation of specific aspects of an animal experiment, including welfare-related issues and the (retrospective) assessment of...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Thallmair, M., Duque-Correa, M. J., Heimann, M. et al. 2026. One size does not fit all: Guidelines for designing a score sheet for animal experiments – eight essential steps. Laboratory Animals 60(1), 110–118.

Assessing laboratory animal welfare: The crucial importance of construct validity

Assessing laboratory animals’ welfare – their current and/or past subjective affective states – is essential for ethical and regulatory reasons (and central to biomedical research into, for example, pain, nausea or anxiety). But this is challenging; and in the quest...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Mason, G. 2026. Assessing laboratory animal welfare: The crucial importance of construct validity. Laboratory Animals 60(1), 13–19.

Enhancing captive welfare management with deep learning: Video-based detection of gibbon behaviors using YOWOvG

Accurate monitoring of animal behavior is critical for assessing welfare and informing conservation strategies for vulnerable species like the eastern hoolock gibbon (Hoolock leuconedys). To overcome limitations of manual observation and single-frame analysis in captive settings, this study developed the...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General, Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Luo, J., Du, Y., Wang, Y. et al. 2026. Enhancing captive welfare management with deep learning: Video-based detection of gibbon behaviors using YOWOvG. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 29(1), 160–175.

Rehoming laboratory rats: Exploring perceptions of rehomers, animal technicians, and biomedical researchers

Humans work with animals in many different ways. In some contexts, animals are allowed to ‘retire’ and be rehomed in sanctuaries or private homes when they are no longer able or needed to work. Similarly, laboratory animals can be rehomed...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Relocation & TransportAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Greenan, G., Quigley, C., Vinuela-Fernandez, I. et al. 2026. Rehoming laboratory rats: Exploring perceptions of rehomers, animal technicians, and biomedical researchers. JAALAS 65(2), 243–250.

Social housing of postoperative animals to support animal welfare

Single housing of animals, or social isolation, is a known stressor for many species. Generally, laboratory animals are housed in social groups as a default to support their behavioral welfare. In some research protocols, investigators may request exemptions from social...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Regulations & Ethical Review, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: All/General, Cat, Dog, Macaque, Marmoset, Mouse, Nonhuman Primate, Pig, Rabbit, Rodent

Citation: Darbyshire, A., Beninson, J., Dyson, M. C. et al. 2026. Social housing of postoperative animals to support animal welfare. JAALAS 65(1), 11–18.

The Hidden Lives of Lab Animals

A lifelong veterinarian invites us into animal labs—and shares his vision for more compassionate research. For decades, laboratory veterinarian Larry Carbone has advocated for both animal welfare and medical progress. In The Hidden Lives of Lab Animals, he offers an...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Carbone, L. 2026. The Hidden Lives of Lab Animals. University of California Press, 360 pp.

Solvable challenges, meaningful lives – welfare and reproduction in zoo animals

In the management and care of farm animals and pets, controlling reproduction is common practice to an extent that its justification is rarely questioned. In zoo population management, limited holding capacity and difficulties in culling so-called ‘surplus animals’ lead to...

Year Published: 2025Topics: ReproductionAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Schiffmann, C., Schiffmann, L., Müller, E. et al. 2025. Solvable challenges, meaningful lives – welfare and reproduction in zoo animals. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 13(4), 245–263.

The use of technology as environmental enrichment in zoos: A scoping review

Technological enrichment, such as motion sensors, touchscreens, and response-independent feeders, offer innovative ways to enhance animal welfare in captivity by promoting species-appropriate behaviours and cognitive stimulation. A scoping review of 22 publications comprising 25 studies identified various technologies, with computers...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Hryhorenko, L., McWhorter, T., Whittaker, A. et al. 2025. The use of technology as environmental enrichment in zoos: A scoping review. Animal Welfare 34, e73.

The constructional approach to zoo animal training: Enhancing welfare through emerging evidence-based behavioral science

Animal welfare has become a cornerstone of modern zoo and aquarium animal care practices. This paper introduces the constructional approach to animal training as an evidence-based framework that can enhance the welfare of zoo animals. Developed through decades of behavioral...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Heidenreich, B., Pedersen, A. 2025. The constructional approach to zoo animal training: Enhancing welfare through emerging evidence-based behavioral science. Animals 15(21), 3221.