The 3Rs Collaborative, Denver, Colorado.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2023 Jul 5;62(4):303-316. doi: 10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-22-000071. Epub 2023 May 17.
Enrichment is important for animal welfare and data quality. Provision of enrichment opportunities varies between species and enrichment category. However, data benchmarking these differences does not exist. Our objective was to characterize enrichment provision and associated factors across species in the US and Canada. Personnel who work with research animals (n = 1098) in the US and Canada voluntarily responded to online promotions and completed a survey about enrichment used for the species they worked with most, their control of and wish for more enrichment, stress or pain in the animals they worked the most with, and demographics. All participants (except those working with rats) received the same questionnaire regardless of species to allow objectivity, as the effects of many enrichment items on some species have not yet been determined. The questionnaire asked about enrichments that were beneficial to at least one species. The provision of enrichment was allocated into 2 outcome variables: diversity and frequency per enrichment category. Results showed a significant interaction between enrichment category and species. Generally, physical, nutritional, and sensory enrichments were provided less often than social enrichment. In addition, nonhuman primates received more diverse and more frequent enrichment than did other species (twice as much as rats and mice). Enrichment was provided less frequently by personnel who wished they could do more than the status quo. Both enrichment frequency and diversity were higher in respondents from Canada, those who had more control over provision, and those who had been in the field longer. While our results cannot be used to determine the quality of enrichment provided to various species, they do provide information on current enrichment practices in the US and Canada and identify differences in implementation by species and enrichment category. The data also indicate provision of enrichment is influenced by factors such as country and individual control over enrichment. This information can also be used to identify areas for greater enrichment efforts for some species (for example, rats and mice) and categories, with the ultimate goal of improving animal welfare.
丰容对于动物福利和数据质量很重要。不同物种和丰容类型提供的丰容机会各不相同。然而，目前尚不存在基准这些差异的数据。我们的目标是描述美国和加拿大的不同物种的丰容提供情况及其相关因素。在美国和加拿大从事研究动物工作的人员（n=1098）自愿对在线推广做出回应，并完成了一份关于他们最常接触的物种使用的丰容、他们对更多丰容、动物压力或疼痛的控制和愿望以及人口统计学特征的调查。所有参与者（除了那些从事大鼠工作的人）都收到了相同的问卷，无论他们从事的物种是什么，以保持客观性，因为许多丰容物品对某些物种的影响尚未确定。问卷询问了对至少一种物种有益的丰容。丰容的提供分为两个结果变量：每个丰容类别的多样性和频率。结果表明，丰容类别和物种之间存在显著的相互作用。通常，物理、营养和感官丰容的提供频率低于社会丰容。此外，非人灵长类动物比其他物种（是大鼠和小鼠的两倍）获得的丰容种类更多、频率更高。希望能做更多而不是现状的人员提供的丰容频率较低。来自加拿大的受访者、对提供丰容有更多控制的受访者和在该领域工作时间更长的受访者的丰容频率和多样性更高。虽然我们的结果不能用于确定各种物种提供的丰容质量，但它们确实提供了美国和加拿大当前丰容实践的信息，并确定了物种和丰容类别的实施差异。数据还表明，丰容的提供受到国家和个人对丰容控制等因素的影响。这些信息还可以用于确定一些物种（例如大鼠和小鼠）和类别需要更大丰容努力的领域，最终目标是改善动物福利。
