Rodent environmental enrichment - animal welfare or human feel-good factor (2002)

Applebee, K. A.

Abstract

This article discusses environmental enrichment for rodents, mainly mice and rats housed in conventional caging, in U.K. research facilities. Environmental enrichment should allow and encourage animals to perform normal behavioural patterns. Cage furniture cannot be a substitute for poor quality caging or overcrowding. Perhaps this question needs to be answered: If a "shoe-box" style cage is filled with objects and materials, is a stimulating environment created or an oppressive jungle for laboratory animals? Perhaps if the provision of environmental enrichment leads to the replacement of the "shoe-box" style cage it will have achieved something tangible rather than being just a means of adorning cages.