Refinement
There are two key issues:
- To assess the impact of any procedure or condition on the well-being of the animal
- Strategies to eliminate or minimise that impact.
NHMRC animal wellbeing guidelines
The NHMRC has developed a detailed document: "Guidelines to promote the wellbeing of animals used for scientific purposes: The assessment and alleviation of pain and distress in research animals". The guidelines aim to promote the wellbeing of animals used for scientific purposes and to minimise their experience of pain and distress.
Assessment of pain and distress
Kuiper and Allen have compiled a comprehensive list of literature on the assessment of animal welfare and animal distress. This site offers a diverse range of topics and a variety of species are covered. Topics include: animal pain and distress, management of pain in production animals behaviour, welfare and environmental design, assessing welfare and suffering, assessment of housing systems, response patterns of fish production to stress and crib biting in horses. Species include: laboratory rodents, cattle, pigs, horses, rabbits, fish, poultry, domestic animals, farmed silver foxes and dogs.
Recognition and alleviation of pain and distress in laboratory animals
A comprehensive overview about behaviour, pain, and distress in laboratory animals. The volume explores: (a) Stressors in the laboratory and the animal behaviours they cause, including in-depth discussions of the physiology of pain and distress and the animal's ecological relationship to the laboratory as an environment. (b) A review of euthanasia of lab animals--exploring the decision, the methods, and the emotional effects on technicians. Also included is a highly practical, extensive listing, by species, of dosages and side effects of anaesthetics, analgesics, and tranquillisers.
Assessing the Health and Welfare of Laboratory Animals (AHWLA)
This website has been recently established and contains a number of tutorial programs on assessing the health and welfare of laboratory animals as well as an introduction to recognising post-operative pain. The tutorials are supported by video material and provide excellent learning resources.
http://www.ahwla.org.uk/
Pain management database
This database includes information about anaesthesia and analgesia for most commonly used laboratory animals, including: rats, mice, primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, guinea pigs, birds, sheep, fish, and exotic species. It provides information about available drugs and the side effects of commonly used drugs. Citations are from publications that have published laboratory animal studies or human clinical studies with relevance to animal research. This database covers the period 1990 to the present, and is updated quarterly.
www.altwebsearch.org/aadb/aadb_search.cfm
Pain and Distress: Recommended resources
A comprehensive bibliography of recommended resources pertaining to pain and distress in animal research. The listing includes - peer-reviewed journal articles, books, CD-ROMS, websites and videos and covers topics including definitions, biology of pain and distress, recognition and assessment, alleviation and prevention, philosophical and ethical issues, analgesia and anaesthesia, euthanasia and neonatal and fetal pain. www.hsus.org/ace/18787
Guidelines and strategies to minimise pain and distress
Strategies to achieve the goal of refinement often need to be customised to a specific set of circumstances. With increasing knowledge and experience, a number of useful guidelines have been developed to assist in minimising the impact of particular procedures and practises. This is an area where knowledge is rapidly expanding.
The resources listed below, highlight the latest in these developments.