All/General

The journey to animal welfare improvement

The process of driving improvement in animal welfare has three stages: 1) assessment of animal welfare, 2) identification of the risk factors potentially leading to a compromise in animal welfare, and 3) interventions, in response to the risk factors, to...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Whay, H. R. 2007. The journey to animal welfare improvement. Animal Welfare 16(2), 117-122.

Normal behaviour as a basis for animal welfare assessment

It is necessary to assess, for each farm animal species and each housing system, whether animal welfare is at risk in any way if the behaviour observed differs from the behaviour that would occur in a natural environment. Detailed knowledge...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Wechsler, B. 2007. Normal behaviour as a basis for animal welfare assessment. Animal Welfare 16(2), 107-110.

Noise in animal facilities: why it matters

Environmental noise can alter endocrine, reproductive and cardiovascular function, disturb sleep/wake cycles, and can mask normal communication between animals. These outcomes indicate that noise in the animal facility might have wide-ranging affects on animals, making what laboratory animals hear of...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Turner, J. G., Bauer, C. A., Rybak, L. P. 2007. Noise in animal facilities: why it matters. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science] 46(1), 10-13.

Validating refinements to laboratory housing: asking the animals

This article discusses behavioural methods used to validate refinements to laboratory housing, focussing on asking animals questions about their preferences and strength of motivation for refinements. Refinements such as additional space, social contact with conspecifics, nesting material, nest boxes, solid...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: Sherwin, C. M. 2007. Validating refinements to laboratory housing: asking the animals. NC3Rs [National Center for the Replacement Refinement Reduction of Animals in Research] 12, 1-13.

Chapter 2.1. How to refer to an animal?

As caregivers, we do not use the pronoun it when referring to an animal. An animal is not an object! We do not think that calling an animal he or she encourages anthropomorphism, but that it does acknowledge the fact...

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

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Chapter 2.1. 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.

Chapter 2.3.2. Giving Animals Names

Naming the animals helps me realize that I am working with sentient beings who deserve my consideration of their well-being. I guess, we can all relate much better to names than to numbers, and we tend to treat named versus...

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

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Chapter 2.3.2. Giving Animals Names. 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), 12-13. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Chapter 2.3.1. Affection for Animals

Animal care personnel and researchers should be encouraged to develop affectionate relationships with their animals. Having such a relationship assures that you regard the animals as living beings, rather than biological test tubes. As such, you will be more careful...

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

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Chapter 2.3.1. Affection for 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), 8-11. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Chapter 2.2. Higher- Versus Lower-Order Species

It seems that Refinement in the use of animals for research includes choosing lower-order species rather than higher-order species, presumably due to the assumption that the lower-order animals suffer less and that their use in experiments poses fewer ethical problems....

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: All/General

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Chapter 2.2. 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.

Chapter 2.11. Legal space requirement stipulations

Is it indicated to push for larger than minimum-size standard cages? Individually caged animals have little or no use for extra space beyond the space required for free postural adjustments and a few normal steps/hops. Rather than exploring empty space,...

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

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Chapter 2.11. 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.

Comparison between the American Animal Welfare Act and the German Law on Protecting Animals

The German law on animal protection might be more utilitarian than the American law. The legislators obviously tried to meet the needs of the animals. However, its poor definitions of main concepts such as pain, suffering, harm, and reasonable reason...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Kolbe, K. 2007. Comparison between the American Animal Welfare Act and the German Law on Protecting Animals. Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) Newsletter 13(1-2), 1-2 & 30.