This book takes Russell and Burch's definition of Refinement as "elimination of inhumanities" and goes further. Rather than fitting animals into experimental conditions, it encourages readers to adjust conditions to better meet the behavioral, emotional, physical, and physiological needs and preferences of the animals.
The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and management, Animal-centric Care and Management: Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research takes Russell and Burch's definition of Refinement as "elimination of inhumanities" and goes further. Rather than fitting animals into experimental conditions, it encourages readers to adjust conditions to better meet the behavioral, emotional, physical, and physiological needs and preferences of the animals.¿The team of expert authors, from the fields of laboratory animal science, ethology, biology as well as animal training, provide ideas for creating housing conditions and handling procedures that induce, to the best of current abilities and knowledge, a long-term positive state of mind in the animals under our care.
This book is written for animal caretakers, animal health technicians, researchers, animal facility managers, laboratory animal veterinarians, and anyone who engages in work with living experimental animals or is interested in the continuous improvement of laboratory animal welfare. This interdisciplinary guide will act as a catalyst, resulting in multiple viewpoints and fields collaborating to optimize laboratory animal welfare.
"By introducing innovative and advanced ways of housing and caring for laboratory animals, this long-overdue bookenables a much needed shift in animal research from a culture of exploitation to a culture of care, where research animals are treated as patients rather than mere measuring devices."
Prof. Dr. Hanno Würbel, Division of Animal Welfare, Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Bern
"The book is comprehensive, well- written and exceedingly well laid out. The principles of Animal-centric careand management may sound a new idea but for many animal care staff it is what we have been doing for manyyears, although there is always room for new ideas. However, the concept of designing experiments studiesto consider the animals needs first rather than the scientific needs is something is entirely new. Althoughonly the common animals are covered, the principles are applicable to all species used in research, althoughsome in depth knowledge of some of the more unusual species needs to be acquired. I commend this book to you and would recommend that it is made available to all staff from the most junior technician to the head of teams using animals in research."
Dr. Jas Barley, April 2021, Animal Technology and Welfare journal (IAT)
