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. 

Protecting animal welfare during preslaughter handling and slaughter is an important ethical concern with growing importance to consumers. However, animal welfare violations in abattoirs remain a serious problem, and the enforcement of relevant laws and...

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is the flagship species of animal conservation worldwide, and the number of captive pandas reached 673 in 2021. According to the Fourth National Survey Report on the Giant Panda, there...

It is important to examine the animal welfare implications of all aspects of zoo operations, including out-of-hours public events. Research to date has indicated variable responses across species and event types. The current research aimed...

FTDs are Australian carnivorous nocturnal marsupials, whose diet, environmental needs, and enrichment vary from typical research species. Due to the limited working knowledge on the husbandry and care of this species in a biomedical setting...

This study prioritised positive affective states while modifying the feeding management of five giraffes at Zoo Planckendael and monitored the impact on indicators of both negative and positive welfare. Observations were conducted day and night...

There is currently no peer-reviewed evidence comparing the postoperative complications associated with open and semi-closed castration techniques in horses. Therefore, the choice of technique should be based on the client's understanding of the risks and...

Zoos are valuable resources for research, allowing scientists to observe rare and elusive species. Animal-attached loggers (biologgers) offer profound insight into animal behaviour. Their use in zoos has great yet largely untapped potential to collect...

Captive animal welfare research focuses on husbandry, enrichment, enclosure space, visitor effects, and opportunities for species-typical behavior (e.g., foraging, territoriality, and social interaction). And yet, one of the most biologically relevant opportunities for species-typical behavior...

The captive Tasmanian devil Sarcophilus harrisii insurance population was initiated in 2005 in response to rapid wild population declines due to a fatal, transmissible cancer. Wild-caught founders were sourced at the age of dispersal from...

Many large mammalian terrestrial carnivores do not hunt every day in their natural habitats, because given the right prey, they can gorge-feed more than their daily energy and nutrient requirements. At the same time, there...

To assess stress in horses, a method of monitoring eye blinks (full and half) and eyelid twitches while collecting saliva and blood samples before and after annual intensive police training was carried out. This noninvasive...

Browsing enrichment may aid in developing species-specific behaviors for giraffes managed in zoos as a means of improving animal welfare. By nature, giraffes are tree-feeding animals, including tree bark, but the extent of food other...

Social buffering occurs when a companion helps to reduce a subject’s stress response during a stressful event and/or to recover more quickly from a stressful event. The aim of this study was to determine if...

To improve animal welfare based on suitable social housing conditions, it is important to understand the factors that trigger high-stress responses. Wild giraffes live in a fission–fusion society and males and females are rarely in...

Environmental enrichment is used to improve the welfare of captive animals by providing increased environmental variety, the provision of choice, and the opportunity to develop competency. The efficacy of a range of environmental enrichment should...

After 25 years of studies on methodologies for behavioral assessment of equine pain, the Unesp-Botucatu Horse Acute Pain Scale (UHAPS) and the Orthopedic Composite Pain Scale (CPS) were recently considered suboptimal instruments to assess pain...

Horses and donkeys are used for agriculture, leisure, urban services and therapy. Although these two species obviously behave differently, it is important to measure their behavioural specificity when tested in the same situations and to...

Kolmården djurpark keeps one of the most northern living giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis groups in the world, and this comes with its challenges. For a long part of the year, the outside temperature is too cold...

The zoo-housed southern white rhinoceros (SWR) population is of special concern due to their lack of consistent breeding success. An enhanced understanding of SWR social preferences could better inform management planning by promoting natural social...

Environmental enrichment is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to provide the stimuli necessary for the optimal physiological and psychological well-being of animals. Due to primates having highly developed visual systems, there have been limited...

Evidence-based approaches are key to advancing all areas of zoo and aquarium practice. Output from empirical study must be disseminated to those within the industry so that results can support changes to husbandry and management...

The behavior of animals is related to their health and welfare status. The latter plays a particular role in animal experiments, where continuous monitoring is essential for animal welfare. In this study, we focus on...

A negative human-animal relationship (HAR) from the perspective of the animal is a limiting factor affecting farm animal welfare, as well as farm animal productivity. Research in farm animals has elucidated sequential relationships between stockperson...

Prompt pain management is crucial in horses; however, tools to assess pain are limited. This study aimed to develop and pilot a composite scale for pain estimation in foals. The “Foal Composite Pain Scale” (FCPS)...