Rethinking Environmental Enrichment? Assessing the Efficacy of Enrichment Strategies (2009)

Deeks, J.

Abstract

Environmental enrichment is widely regarded as a cornerstone to good animal care practices. The steps to a successful enrichment programare planning, implementation and evaluation. The simple provision of enrichment does not guarantee that the animals are going to use it, nor that they will necessarily benefit from it. .. There is no arguing the benefit of allowing research animals to engage in normal species-specific behaviour. We need to take a more pro-active approach to determine what these particular behaviours are and investigate whether or not our current techniques are facilitating their expression.