Handling laboratory animals can stimulate stress and anxiety that negatively impacts animal welfare and introduces a substantial confounding factor in many areas of scientific research. However, the ...

Studies in mice have shown that less aversive handling methods (e.g. tunnel or cup handling) can reduce behavioural measures of anxiety in comparison to picking mice up by their tail. Despite such ...

In the wild, rabbits are prey animals and so the act of being picked up and handled can be extremely stressful for them. Yet, the most used method of handling laboratory rabbits is to grasp the animal ...

Different handling methods for laboratory mice have been intensely debated in light of refining animal husbandry. Several studies claim that tail handling is aversive, while tunnel handling seems to ...