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Refinement Alternatives
Welfare Assessment
The assessment of the welfare of animals used in science is an integral part of implementing Refinement alternatives. A number of different measures can be used to evaluate animal welfare. These can be grouped into three types:
- Information from routine colony management - This includes physical values such as longevity, growth rate, susceptibility to disease, reproduction and infant care, wound healing, coat and body condition, body shape and posture.
- Information from structured behavioural assessment - An example would be documenting the animals’ behavioural repertoire and activity budgets (including grooming, sleeping, play, social behaviours, facial expressions and vocalizations). Behavioural assessment requires an understanding of what is normal behaviour for the species and individual animal, which may be observed from video footage of animals in their natural environment.
- Information from instrumentation - Examples include heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, serum levels of stress hormones (e.g., cortisol), and immunological functions such as rates of lymphocyte proliferation and suppression of lymphocyte activity. (However, measurement of many of these parameters requires using invasive techniques).
The use of observational checklists or score sheets for scoring the animal's condition and behaviour provides an objective basis on which to assess welfare. The advantage of score sheets is that specific observations are not overlooked or taken for granted. In addition, score sheets help improve observational skills, particularly with the smaller laboratory animals where some of the conventional observations made on larger animals are not as readily determined.
Welfare assessment in fish
Many aspects relevant to the welfare assessment of terrestrial species also apply to fish. However, the assessment of well-being in fish is challenging because their responses to adverse conditions are not always displayed, and because significant observational restrictions are imposed by the rearing environment itself. Some features of welfare assessment that are specific to fish include:
- weight gain or growth rate - a slower than normal rate of weight gain may be a more sensitive indicator of welfare than weight loss;
- environmental parameters - lack of attention to environmental criteria (such as temperature and water quality) can precipitate normal physiological anorexia; and
- feeding behaviour - a change in feeding activity or in feed consumption of the experimental unit (the tank) is a more immediate and sensitive indicator of abnormal environment or health than weight changes.
(This section has been adapted from the NC3Rs and CCAC guidelines)
For more information on welfare assessment, the following resources may be useful:
CCAC resources
Online resources
- Assessing the Health and Welfare of Laboratory Animals (AHWLA) (2008) Basic Assessment. Newcastle University.
- Online tutorial
- Mason G. (2005) Stereotypic Animal Behaviour: fundamentals and applications to welfare.
- Video and images of stereotypic behaviour
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Animal Welfare Committee (2008) Guidelines to Promote the Wellbeing of Animals Used for Scientific Purposes. 188 pp. Canberra: NHMRC
- National Research Council (NRC) (2008) Recognition and Alleviation of Distress in Laboratory Animals. 136pp. Washington DC: National Academies Press.
- Online book
- Wells D., Playle L., Enser B., Flecknell P., Gardiner M., Holland J., Howard B., Hubrecht R., Humphreys K., Jackson I., Lane N., Maconochie M., Mason G., Morton D., Raymond R., Robinson V., Smith J. & Watt N. (2006) Assessing the welfare of genetically altered mice. Laboratory Animals 40:111-114.
Other publications
- Dawkins M. (2004) Using behaviour to assess animal welfare. Animal welfare 13:S3-S7.
- Fraser D. (2008) Understanding Animal Welfare: The Science in its Cultural Context. 324pp. UK: Wiley-Blackwell
- Jegstrup I., Thon R., Hansen A.K. & Ritskes Hoitinga M. (2003) Characterization of transgenic mice—a comparison of protocols for welfare evaluation and phenotype characterization of mice with a suggestion on a future certificate of instruction. Laboratory Animals 37:1-9.
- Leach M.C., Thornton P.D. & Main D.C.J. (2008) Identification of appropriate measures for the assessment of laboratory mouse welfare. Animal Welfare 17:161-170.
- Mason G. & Latham N. (2004) Can't stop, won't stop: is stereotypy a reliable animal welfare indicator? Animal Welfare 13:S57-S69.
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