The primary objective of the EU-wide Animal Experiments Directive (Directive 2010/63/EU), which is implemented in Austria by the Animal Experiments Act 2012 (TVG 2012), is to ensure maximum animal welfare by guaranteeing the highest possible level of protection and to minimize "pain, suffering or distress".

Training, the key to success. Read here why animal-friendly handling improves your research quality and how laboratory rodent training works.

Enrichment is considered an essential factor in providing refinement and animal welfare in laboratory animal husbandry. It is relatively easy to provide for animal welfare through various measures, which have a positive effect on behavior, physiology and even the brain structure of laboratory animals.

Clicker training works not only with dogs, but also excellently with rodents, including laboratory rodents. The training leads to stress reduction and thus makes a good contribution in refinement.

Life-long learning has become an integral part of today's professional world. Thanks to constant advances in science and technology, everyone is required to keep up to date with the latest developments through continuous professional development. While Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is commonplace in many medical and scientific disciplines, there is still a need to catch up, especially in the laboratory animal sector. This is because both the quality of research and animal welfare would benefit from up to date knowledge and skills. Apart from this, it is also entirely in the spirit of the EU-wide legal standard (Directive 2010/63/EU) to ensure that animal experiments are always carried out according to the latest knowledge in order to reduce animal suffering to an absolute minimum.

Animal-friendly handling is an important measure to ensure refinement in animal experiments. On the one hand, this strengthens the human-animal relationship Animal-friendly handling is an important measure to ensure refinement in animal experiments. On the one hand, it strengthens the human-animal relationship. Handling becomes more relaxed for both, less stress and fear are felt and the risk of injury is also significantly reduced.

Ensuring the "welfare of animals" as a "value of the Union" is the primary objective of the European Directive 2010/63/EU, which was implemented in Austria by the Animal Experiments Act 2012 (TVG 2012).

This regulates that "death as an endpoint of a procedure is to be avoided as far as possible" as well as "to be replaced by early and as painless endpoints as possible".

Originally kept for ornamental purposes only, the zebrafish now plays an important role in research. Whether embryo, larva or fish - for all developmental stages of the Danio rerio exists a variety of scientific applications.

The so-called Automated Home-Cage Monitoring Systems (AHCM) are a very good example of improved animal welfare and increased quality in research with and on animals.

Young et al. show in a study how much value is placed on refinement methods in animal testing laboratories. Refined handling should not be an option but a standard in animal handling. The advantages are visible in daily handling and in various investigations. Refined handling includes methods such as tunnel handling (picking up with a tunnel) and cup handling (picking up in a palm shaped into a bowl).