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Animal welfare definitions, frameworks, and assessment tools: Advancing the measurement and laying the foundation for improved animal welfare through a three-step approach (2025)

To qualify and quantify animal welfare, novel assessment tools have been and are being developed, while existing assessment tools are being modified so that they can be applied to multiple species living under different housing and management conditions. The results...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Staay, F. J. van der, Goerlich, V. C., Meijboom, F. L. et al. 2025. Animal welfare definitions, frameworks, and assessment tools: Advancing the measurement and laying the foundation for improved animal welfare through a three-step approach. Animal Welfare, 34, e30.

Advances in technical methods and applications of subretinal injections in experimental animals (2025)

The subretinal injection technique is an important intraocular drug delivery modality that allows access to the subretinal space to directly act on target cells or the administration of medications, markedly improving the therapeutic efficacy of ocular diseases. Subretinal injection in...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Song, C., Ji, Y., Wang, Y. et al. 2025. Advances in technical methods and applications of subretinal injections in experimental animals. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 12.

Creating an effective, inclusive and open Animal Welfare and Ethical review Body: Learning and legacy (2024)

This paper reports on our use of reflective practice to analyse and map the evolution of our legacy Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB) over 7 years. We identified 6 interconnected principles that support underlying behaviours and prsent them...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Animal welfare, agency, and animal–computer interaction (2025)

Recent discussions in animal welfare have emphasised the importance of animal agency—the ability of animals to make choices and exert control over their environment in a way that aligns with their needs and preferences. In this paper, we discuss the...

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

Citation: Browning, H., Veit, W. 2025. Animal welfare, agency, and animal–computer interaction. Animals 15(2), 219.

“Killing in the name of 3R?” The ethics of death in animal research

Changing relationships with nonhuman animals have led to important modifications in animal welfare legislations, including the protection of animal life. However, animal research regulations are largely based on welfarist assumptions, neglecting the idea that death can constitute a harm to...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Euthanasia, Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Persson, K., Rodriguez Perez, C., Louis-Maerten, E. et al. 2024. “Killing in the name of 3R?” The ethics of death in animal research. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 38(1), 4.

A bibliometric analysis of studies on environmental enrichment spanning 1967–2024: Patterns and trends over the years

Environmental Enrichment (EE) has received considerable attention for its potential to enhance cognitive and neurobiological outcomes in animal models. This bibliometric analysis offers a comprehensive evaluation of the EE research spanning from 1967 to 2024, utilizing data extracted from Scopus...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Singhal, G., Baune, B. T. 2024. A bibliometric analysis of studies on environmental enrichment spanning 1967–2024: Patterns and trends over the years. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 18.

A new approach (CSA-Score) to assessing the cumulative overall stress load in the case of animal experiments and even beyond

In laboratory animal science, severity assessment has been mandatory by European law since 2013. Various severity assessments have been created for many single manipulations. However, when multiple harmful interventions or stressors occur simultaneously or repeatedly, the cumulative overall severity is...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General, Mouse, Pig, Rodent

Citation: Helmig, S., Wenzel, S. 2024. A new approach (CSA-Score) to assessing the cumulative overall stress load in the case of animal experiments and even beyond. Discover Animals 1(1), 38.

A consensus on the definition of positive animal welfare

The concept of animal welfare is evolving due to progress in our scientific understanding of animal biology and changing societal expectations. Animal welfare science has been primarily concerned with minimizing suffering, but there is growing interest in also promoting positive...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Rault, J.-L., Bateson, M., Boissy, A. et al. 2025. A consensus on the definition of positive animal welfare. Biology Letters 21(1), 20240382.

The voice of choice: A scoping review of choice-based animal welfare studies

“Choice and control” is a phrase used widely in animal welfare science to describe providing captive animals with the ability to select between possible outcomes (stimuli or events). This concept has gained traction as a pivotal management technique across a...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Rust, K., Clegg, I., Fernandez, E. J. 2024. The voice of choice: A scoping review of choice-based animal welfare studies. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 275, 106270.

An enclosure quality ranking framework for terrestrial animals in captivity

There is a burgeoning interest in measuring and improving animal welfare in captive settings. Recent work has emphasized how enclosure design elements directly impact animal welfare (e.g., from health, behavioral, and reproductive standpoints). Yet, there is no published systematic way...

Year Published: 2024Topics: HousingAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Flanagan, A. M., Masuda, B., Grabar, K. et al. 2024. An enclosure quality ranking framework for terrestrial animals in captivity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 278, 106378.