Animal welfare research is fascinating, ethical, and useful—but how can it be more rigorous?

Mason, Georgia J.

doi:10.1186/s12915-023-01793-x

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

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“…Studies focusing on laboratory animals were abundant, showing that the concern to improve the welfare of these animals is great since they are often used in biomedical research and the results of such research need to be reliable [ 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Some studies have already shown that low levels of welfare in these animals can generate dubious results in these studies [ 44 , 45 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Overview of Environmental Enrichment Studies: What Has Been Done and Future Directions

Bachetti,

Viol,

Viana-Junior

et al. 2024

Animals

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(1) Background: Environmental enrichment (EE) is a management principle aimed at meeting the needs of animals under human care by identifying and providing essential environmental stimuli to contribute to the integrity of their psychological and physiological well-being. Studies on EE have been carried out worldwide, but consolidated information on how it has been used, who it has been used for, how it has been evaluated, and what gaps still exist in the subject is scarce in the scientific literature. This study assessed, employing a systematic review, the global scenario of research into EE in animals kept under human care over the last 17 years, answering the above-mentioned questions. (2) Methods: A search for EE papers was carried out in the Web of Science and Scopus databases from January 2005 to December 2021, resulting in 2002 articles from which information was extracted. (3) Results: Results showed an increase in the number of articles published on EE, especially in farms, but studies in laboratory environments continue to be more frequent. Mammals and birds are the most studied animal groups. Cognitive enrichment is the least utilised by researchers. The number of publications by researchers from countries in the southern hemisphere is low. (4) Conclusions: Although the technique of EE is being widely used, it is still focused on certain groups of animals in certain captive environments and carried out mainly in the northern hemisphere of the planet. Therefore, the gaps pointed out here need to be filled by future studies.

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