All/General

Environmental enrichment: Definition and criteria of effectiveness

Regardless of how we define the term environmental enrichment, it will always distract from the fact that we do not enrich the environment of captive animals, but provide them, at best, with opportunities to express very basic behavioral needs.Biologically relevant...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Environmental enrichment: Definition and criteria of effectiveness. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 47-51. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Emotionality – is it unprofessional to cry? In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum

It is not unprofessional to cry when you face situations in which animals have to endure unnecessary discomfort, pain or distress while you are helpless to interfere on their behalf. The expression of sadness in such situations is a reflection...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Emotionality - is it unprofessional to cry? In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 19-22. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Adoption of animals after research completion

Rather than killing animals who are no longer useful for research, many laboratories have started releasing animals for adoption by personnel and by private homes. Some of these adoption programs have proven to be very successful.

Year Published: 2007Topics: Relocation & TransportAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Adoption of animals after research completion. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 27-29. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Hearing ranges of laboratory animals

Although the hearing ranges of most species overlap to a large degree, considerable variation occurs in high- and low-frequency hearing as well as in absolute sensitivity. As a result, a sound that is easily audible to one species may be...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Heffner, H. E., Heffner, R. S. 2007. Hearing ranges of laboratory animals. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science] 46(1).

Maladaptive behaviors: Stereotypical behavior; hair pulling-and-eating and alopecia (hair loss); self-injurious biting

Animals kept in legally minimum-sized, unstructured enclosures very often exhibit stereotypical behaviors. Traditionally, these repetitive movement patterns without obvious goals or functions are categorized as abnormal. A healthy animal kept in a small, barren enclosure has little choice of expressing...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Abnormal/Problematic BehaviorAnimal Type: All/General, Cat, Dog, Guinea Pig, Nonhuman Primate, Rabbit, Rodent

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Maladaptive behaviors: Stereotypical behavior; hair pulling-and-eating and alopecia (hair loss); self-injurious biting. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 39-45. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Humane – what does this term mean? In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum

If we do all these inhumane things to animals, don't we have to judge, i.e., make an ethical assessment so that we can live at ease with ourselves? If this ethical assessment puts us at dis-ease with ourselves, we will...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Humane - what does this term mean? In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 22-23. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Impaired well-being, pain and suffering

There are general signs - reduced alertness, lack of interest in food and enrichment gadgets, unusual coat condition, unusual response to human presence - and species-specific signs that tell you that an animal does not feel well. The response of...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Impaired well-being, pain and suffering. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 32-35. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Human-animal relationship: Affection for animals; giving animal names; touching animals; alleviating fear of humans

Relationships that develop between facility personnel and laboratory animals may result in an overall reduction in stress for the animals, and they may serve to buffer the potential stress of certain experimental situations. Administrators of animal research, testing, and teaching...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Human-animal relationship: Affection for animals; giving animal names; touching animals; alleviating fear of humans. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 8-19. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Higher- versus lower-order species

To classify animals into those of higher versus lower order, or to classify animals according to their genetic relatedness to the human species may have theoretical value, but it would be unscientific to use these concepts to determine the relative...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Higher- versus lower-order species. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 4-8. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

How to refer to an animal – using the proper pronoun

Referring to an animal as it is neither correct nor scientific, because it overlooks the fact that animals, just like humans, have a biological gender. Therefore, they should be referred to accordingly with the correct pronouns he or she. When...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. How to refer to an animal - using the proper pronoun. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 3-4. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.