Publications

Animal welfare definitions, frameworks, and assessment tools: Advancing the measurement and laying the foundation for improved animal welfare through a three-step approach (2025)

To qualify and quantify animal welfare, novel assessment tools have been and are being developed, while existing assessment tools are being modified so that they can be applied to multiple species living under different housing and management conditions. The results...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Staay, F. J. van der, Goerlich, V. C., Meijboom, F. L. et al. 2025. Animal welfare definitions, frameworks, and assessment tools: Advancing the measurement and laying the foundation for improved animal welfare through a three-step approach. Animal Welfare, 34, e30.

Advances in technical methods and applications of subretinal injections in experimental animals (2025)

The subretinal injection technique is an important intraocular drug delivery modality that allows access to the subretinal space to directly act on target cells or the administration of medications, markedly improving the therapeutic efficacy of ocular diseases. Subretinal injection in...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Song, C., Ji, Y., Wang, Y. et al. 2025. Advances in technical methods and applications of subretinal injections in experimental animals. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 12.

Alleviating isolation stress in chickens: The benefits of home pen playback and mirrors (2025)

This study investigated whether the provision of (1) a mirror or (2) video and sound playback of conspecifics in the home pen (i.e., playback) could alleviate stress in socially isolated adult domestic chickens. Thirty adult chickens participated in the study,...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Sirovnik, J. 2025. Alleviating isolation stress in chickens: The benefits of home pen playback and mirrors. PLOS ONE 20(2), e0318126.

Quantifying the welfare impact of air asphyxia in rainbow trout slaughter for policy and practice (2025)

The effective improvement of animal welfare requires quantitative methods to compare diverse impacts across practices and policies on a common, relatable scale. The Welfare Footprint Framework (WFF) fulfills this need by providing a standardized welfare impact measure: cumulative time in...

Year Published: 2025Topics: EuthanasiaAnimal Type: Fish, Trout

Citation: Schuck-Paim, C., Alonso, W. J., Pereira, P. A. et al. 2025. Quantifying the welfare impact of air asphyxia in rainbow trout slaughter for policy and practice. Scientific Reports 15(1), 19850.

Evaluation of different intramuscular injectable anesthetic combinations in rabbits: Impact on anesthetic depth, physiological parameters, and EEG recordings (2025)

Rabbits have a high anesthesia-related mortality rate because of their small size, high metabolic rate and challenging airway management. This study aimed to investigate different combinations of intramuscularly administered anesthetics in New Zealand White rabbits, focusing on their effects on...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Anesthesia & Sedation, Surgery & Post-OpAnimal Type: Rabbit

Citation: Schmid, M.-L., Werner, J., Saller, A. M. et al. 2025. Evaluation of different intramuscular injectable anesthetic combinations in rabbits: Impact on anesthetic depth, physiological parameters, and EEG recordings. PLOS ONE 20(2), e0319106.

Blood sampling in Göttingen minipigs—a case study of two standard methods and clicker training as a restraint-free alternative (2025)

Blood sampling often requires restraint that negatively affects animal welfare. This case study evaluated three methods for jugular vein blood sampling (V-bench, sling, and clicker training) with the overall aim of assessing the negative impact on animal welfare and providing...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Animal Training, Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, RestraintAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Schiøler, K., Jensen, M. L., Sørensen, D. B. 2025. Blood sampling in Göttingen minipigs—a case study of two standard methods and clicker training as a restraint-free alternative. Animals 15(3), 407.

Novel euthanasia technique for zebrafish using electric shock in standard group housing aquaria

Zebrafish are widely used in research, accounting for approximately 50% of all laboratory fish across Europe. Due to their rapid reproduction and aging, effective and practical euthanasia methods are necessary for managing large stocks. This study investigated whether adult zebrafish...

Year Published: 2025Topics: EuthanasiaAnimal Type: Fish, Zebrafish

Citation: Saarinen, U., Sundell, E., Sneddon, L. et al. 2025. Novel euthanasia technique for zebrafish using electric shock in standard group housing aquaria. Scientific Reports 15(1), 3011.

Self-administration of meloxicam via medicated molasses lick blocks may improve welfare of castrated calves (2025)

The self-administration of meloxicam via medicated feed is a novel concept that could enable non-invasive, pre-emptive and long-term analgesia. Forty Bos taurus male calves were randomly allocated to four treatment groups: no castration (PC), surgical castration (NC), surgical castration with...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Analgesia, Body Modification/MutilationAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Rudd, S., Lomax, S., White, P. J. et al. 2025. Self-administration of meloxicam via medicated molasses lick blocks may improve welfare of castrated calves. Animals 15(3), 442.

Assessment of minimum stable areas for young ostriches according to animal welfare legislation (2025)

Regarding the ongoing global development of commercial ostrich husbandry, it is necessary to establish science-based recommendations for the appropriate treatment and welfare of ostriches. In this study, we determined the minimum housing area required for ostriches aged between 6 and...

Year Published: 2025Topics: HousingAnimal Type: Bird, Other Bird

Citation: Rückschloss, S., Schüttpelz, R. N., Korbel, R. 2025. Assessment of minimum stable areas for young ostriches according to animal welfare legislation. Animals 15(4), 582.

Tracking ‘tails’: Refining motor activity monitoring in rats and mice (2025)

Motor activity monitoring is used in specialist regulatory toxicology studies to investigate test item related neurobehavioral effects. Introduction of a new video tracking software system which detects the centre point, tail base and nose tip of rodents to individually track...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Behavioral & Cognitive Testing, Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Reading, R. 2025. Tracking “tails”: Refining motor activity monitoring in rats and mice. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(1), 53–56.