Effects of a gentling programme on the behaviour of laboratory rats towards humans (2008)

Maurer, B. M., Doring, D., Scheipl, F. et al.

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of a gentling programme on the later behaviour of laboratory rats towards humans. For that purpose, 24 female Wistar rats were purchased from a laboratory animal breeding facility at the age of 21 days and allocated, genetically balanced, to an experimental and a control group. The animals were kept under standard laboratory conditions in groups of three. The experimental group was subjected to a gentling programme twice daily for 10 min per cage in the fourth and fifth week of life. This involved gentling and hand-feeding the animals. In addition, the animals were talked to during gentling. At the beginning of the 6th, 8th, 10th and 14th week of life as well as at the age of 6, 6.5 and 9 months the animals of both the experimental and the control group were subjected to tests in order to assess the rats' behaviour towards humans. In the 14th week of life as well as at the age of 6 months the same test was additionally carried out by a person not familiar to the rats for the purpose of studying the animals' behaviour towards unfamiliar persons.The gentling programme had a beneficial long-term effect on the behaviour of the rats and proved suitable to reduce the laboratory rats' fear of humans.