Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every four months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Tips for using the database:

  • This landing page displays all of the publications in the database.
  • Use the drop-down menus to filter these publications by Animal Type, Setting, and/or Topic.
  • Clicking on a parent category (e.g., Rodent) will include publications relating to all the items in that category (e.g., Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, etc.).
  • You may also add a keyword to further narrow your search.
  • Please note that at this time, only publications dated 2010 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Animal Type and Topic, and only publications dated 2020 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Setting. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
Bracke, M. B. M., Koene, P. 2019. Expert opinion on metal chains and other indestructible objects as proper enrichment for intensively-farmed pigs. PLOS ONE 14(2), e0212610.

EC Directive 2001/93 requires that all pigs have access to proper investigation and manipulation materials. Intensively farmed pigs in Europe are frequently provided with a short metal chain with or without an indestructible object attached...

Morgan, L., Itin-Shwartz, B., Koren, L. et al. 2019. Physiological and economic benefits of abandoning invasive surgical procedures and enhancing animal welfare in swine production. Scientific Reports 9, 16093.

Food-animal welfare is a major ethical and social concern. Pork is the most consumed meat worldwide, with over a billion pigs slaughtered annually. Most of these pigs routinely undergo painful surgical procedures (surgical castration, tail...

Middelkoop, A., Costermans, N., Kemp, B. et al. 2019. Feed intake of the sow and playful creep feeding of piglets influence piglet behaviour and performance before and after weaning. Scientific Reports 9, 16140.

Creep feed intake is variable and may be partly homeostatically and exploratory driven. We studied effects of maternal feed restriction and a ‘play-feeder’ on piglet behaviour and performance. 37 Litters received creep feed in a...

Cecchin, D., Torres Campos, A., Sodré Amaral, P. I. et al. 2019. Behavior of swine hosted in facilities with different construction typologies. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 7(1), 6-10.

The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior of pigs housed in facilities with different building typologies in terms of the floor and partitions. Two treatments were compared: a pen containing an area...

Špinka, M. 2019. Animal agency, animal awareness and animal welfare. Animal Welfare 28(1), 11–20.

In nature, animals need to actively engage with the environment in order to prosper in survival and reproduction. Hence, agency is a central adaptive characteristic of animal life. In this paper, I propose that from...

Luo, L., Reimert, I., de Haas, E. N. et al. 2019. Effects of early and later life environmental enrichment and personality on attention bias in pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus). Animal Cognition 22(6), 959–972.

We investigated effects of early and later life housing on attention bias, as an indicator of affective state, in pigs differing in coping style [reactive (LR) vs. proactive (HR)]. Pigs (n = 128) in barren or enriched...

Bulens, A., Van Beirendonck, S., Van Thielen, J. et al. 2018. Rearing finishing pigs with intact tails: Do they benefit from an enriched environment? Journal of Veterinary Behavior 24, 1-8.

In an attempt to prevent tail biting in pigs, tail docking is often done. This management procedure is painful for the pigs, so the question arises whether pigs can be raised with intact tails and...

Lambert, K., Kimmer, M., Mitchell, E. 2017. Using braided cloth as a pig enrichment device. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 5(1) (March), 36-38.

While the provision of space is important, it is not enough on its own to satisfy the behavioral needs of the pig. Pigs are highly intelligent animals that require complexity in their environment to provide...

Ferreira Vasconcelos, E. K., da Silva Borges, L., Lopes da Silva, Â. et al. 2015. Behavior of pigs in the growth phase raised in an enriched environment. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 3(4), 120-123.

In this study we aimed to evaluate the behavior of pigs raised in an enriched environment. 12 male piglets, hybrids between 35 and 105 days of age were used. We assessed the behavioral variables: sleeping...