All/General

Pain and distress: what really matters? Lab Animal 35(5), 27-32

Federal regulations mandate the minimization of both pain and distress in laboratory animals. That no clear definition exists for 'distress' complicates its recognition, quantification, and alleviation. The author argues that IACUCs and investigators should shift their focus from pain to...

Year Published: 2006Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Koch, V. W. 2006. Pain and distress: what really matters? Lab Animal 35(5), 27-32.

Social buffering: relief from stress and anxiety

Communication is essential to members of a society not only for the expression of personal information, but also for the protection from environmental threats. Highly social mammals have a distinct characteristic: when conspecific animals are together, they show a better...

Year Published: 2006Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Kikusui, T., Winslow, J. T., Mori, Y. 2006. Social buffering: relief from stress and anxiety. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B 361, 2215-2228.

Human-animal relationship in the research lab: a discussion by the Refinement and Enrichment Forum

The question was asked: "Does the regular, affectionate interaction with adult animals help the subject overcome the fear of humans, and hence buffer the stress response to being handled during experimental procedures?" I think an affectionate human-animal relationship makes a...

Year Published: 2006Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Abney, D., Conlee, K., Cunneen, M. et al. 2006. Human-animal relationship in the research lab: a discussion by the Refinement and Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 5(2), 95-98.

Scientific approaches to enrichment and stereotypies in zoo animals: what’s been done and where should we go next?

The zoo scientific community was among the first to focus attention on captivity-induced stereotypic behaviors, their causes, and methods of eradication. Environmental enrichment has emerged recently as the main husbandry tool for tackling this problem. An increasing number of research...

Year Published: 2006Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Swaisgood, R. R., Shepherdson, D. J. 2006. Scientific approaches to enrichment and stereotypies in zoo animals: what's been done and where should we go next? Zoo Biology 24, 499-518.

Stress and distress: A discussion by the Refinement and Enrichment Forum

The question was asked: "The terms 'stress' and 'distress' are often used in the scientific literature but usually without a definition. If you use these terms, how do you define them? What are the signs that tell you that an...

Year Published: 2006Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Roberts, S., Van Loo P., Schultz, P. et al. 2006. Stress and distress: A discussion by the Refinement and Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 5(2), 99-102.

Noise exposure, music, and animal in the laboratory: A commentary based on Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum (LAREF) discussions

Evidence supports the use of quiet music during nonhuman animals' activity periods, if this practice is introduced with an awareness of the risks to welfare and research.

Year Published: 2006Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Patterson-Kane, E. G., Farnworth, M. J. 2006. Noise exposure, music, and animal in the laboratory: A commentary based on Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum (LAREF) discussions. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 9, 327-332.

Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum

This book is a collection of electronic discussions that took place on the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum (LAREF) between October 2002 and May 2007. The forum serves the international animal care and animal research community to promote animal...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Baumans, V., Coke, C. S., Green, J. et al. 2007. Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Training as a tool in animal husbandry, medical care ad research

Through the use of positive methods and a consistent and clear 2-way communication system , we can develop a bond with our animals based on trust and the animals' understanding of the rules of the game .

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Brando, S. 2007. Training as a tool in animal husbandry, medical care and research. Institute of Animal Technology [IAT] Congress, 34.

Definition of criteria for overall assessment of animal welfare

Welfare is multidimensional, comprising good health, comfort, expression of behaviour. Its overall assessment therefore requires a multicriteria evaluation. We propose a set of 12 subcriteria grouped into four criteria: feeding, housing, health and appropriate behaviour including expression of social behaviours,...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Botreau, R., Veissier, I., Butterworth, A. et al. 2007. Definition of criteria for overall assessment of animal welfare. Animal Welfare 16(2), 225-228.

Emotions and cognition: a new approach to animal welfare

Cognitive processes could be manipulated and measured to provide new insights into how not only emotions but also more persistent affective states can be assessed in animals. There is an emerging view that good welfare requires not only teh absence...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Boissy, A., Arnould, C., Chaillou, E. 2007. Emotions and cognition: a new approach to animal welfare. Animal Welfare 16(S), 37-43.