All/General

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.

Euphemism – do we really sacrifice animals? In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum

If we use the terms sacrificing or euthanizing with full awareness of what they actually imply to animals in research, we are honest to ourselves and we will do our very best to minimize the discomfort, pain and distress that...

Year Published: 2007Topics: EuthanasiaAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Euphemism - do we really sacrifice animals? 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), 23-24. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Extraneous variables

This chapter deals with the following extraneous variables: Exposure to distressed conspecifics; construction noise; researcher; workdays versus weekends/holidays; individually ventilated caging (IVC); restraint tube for rodentsExposure to distressed conspecifics: Being exposed to a distressed conspecific changes the physiological equilibrium of...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Extraneous variables. 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), 153-163. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Legal space requirement stipulations

It would be a lot easier for us to improve the housing conditions for our animals if we had some legal regulations prescribing the quality of the enclosure space rather than just its minimum size. Perhaps, experts of the various...

Year Published: 2007Topics: HousingAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Legal space requirement stipulations. 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), 30-32. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.