Lindsjö Johan, Fahlman Åsa, Törnqvist Elin
Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 234, SE-532 23 Skara, Sweden.
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, PO Box 7054, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
J Wildl Dis. 2016 Apr;52(2 Suppl):S65-77. doi: 10.7589/52.2S.S65.
The concept of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) was originally developed for improving laboratory animal welfare and is well known in biomedical and toxicologic research. The 3Rs have so far gained little attention in wildlife research, and there could be several reasons for this. First, researchers may prioritize the welfare of populations and ecosystems over the welfare of individual animals. The effects of research on individual animals can, however, impact welfare and research quality at group and population levels. Second, researchers may find it difficult to apply the 3Rs to studies of free-living wildlife because of the differences between laboratory and wild animals, species, research environment, and purpose and design of the studies. There are, however, several areas where it is possible to transfer the 3R principles to wildlife research, including replacement with noninvasive research techniques, reduction with optimized experimental design, and refinement with better methods of capture, anesthesia, and handling. Third, researchers may not have been trained in applying the 3Rs in wildlife research. This training is needed since ethics committees, employers, journal publishers, and funding agencies increasingly require researchers to consider the welfare implications of their research. In this paper, we compare the principles of the 3Rs in various research areas to better understand the possibilities and challenges of the 3Rs in wildlife research. We emphasize the importance of applying the 3Rs systematically throughout the research process. Based on experiences from laboratory research, we suggest three key factors to enhance implementation of the 3Rs in wildlife research: 1) organizational structure and management, 2) 3R awareness, and 3) research innovation, validation, and implementation. Finally, we encourage an interdisciplinary approach to incorporate the 3R principles in wildlife research. For improved animal welfare and increased research quality, researchers have moral obligations to include the 3Rs into all research areas, including wildlife research.
3R 原则（替代、减少和优化）的概念最初是为改善实验动物福利而提出的，在生物医学和毒理学研究中广为人知。到目前为止，3R 原则在野生动物研究中很少受到关注，原因可能有几个。首先，研究人员可能将种群和生态系统的福利置于个体动物福利之上。然而，对个体动物的研究影响可能会在群体和种群层面影响福利和研究质量。其次，由于实验动物与野生动物、物种、研究环境以及研究目的和设计之间存在差异，研究人员可能会发现将 3R 原则应用于自由生活野生动物的研究很困难。然而，在几个领域可以将 3R 原则应用于野生动物研究，包括用非侵入性研究技术替代、通过优化实验设计减少以及用更好的捕获、麻醉和处理方法进行优化。第三，研究人员可能没有接受过在野生动物研究中应用 3R 原则的培训。由于伦理委员会、雇主、期刊出版商和资助机构越来越要求研究人员考虑其研究对福利的影响，因此需要这种培训。在本文中，我们比较了各个研究领域的 3R 原则，以更好地理解 3R 原则在野生动物研究中的可能性和挑战。我们强调在整个研究过程中系统应用 3R 原则的重要性。基于实验室研究的经验，我们提出了在野生动物研究中加强 3R 原则实施的三个关键因素：1）组织结构和管理，2）3R 意识，3）研究创新、验证和实施。最后，我们鼓励采用跨学科方法将 3R 原则纳入野生动物研究。为了改善动物福利和提高研究质量，研究人员有道德义务将 3R 原则纳入所有研究领域，包括野生动物研究。
