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    The implementation of tunnel handling in a mouse breeding facility revealed strain-specific behavioural responses (2023)

    Art
    Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag
    Autoren
    Hohlbaum, Katharina
    Merle, Roswitha (WE 16)
    Warnke, Ramona
    Nagel-Riedasch, Stefan
    Thöne-Reineke, Christa (WE 11)
    Ullmann, Kristina
    Quelle
    Laboratory animals
    Seiten: 13
    ISSN: 0023-6772
    Sprache
    Englisch
    Verweise
    URL (Volltext): http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00236772231215077
    DOI: 10.1177/00236772231215077
    Pubmed: 38141658
    Kontakt
    Institut für Tierschutz, Tierverhalten und Versuchstierkunde

    Königsweg 67
    14163 Berlin
    +49 30 838 61146
    tierschutz@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

    Abstract / Zusammenfassung

    As a step towards implementing non-aversive handling techniques at a big mouse breeding facility in Germany, tunnel handling was introduced in a breeding unit comprising three inbred mouse strains. To assess whether tunnel handling would be feasible for the animal technicians in their everyday work and beneficial for the mice when being handled during weekly cage change only, the behaviour of tunnel- and tailhandled animals of both sexes was examined before, during and after the handling events over a period of nine weeks. Moreover, the time expenditure was compared between both handling techniques. It was possible to use the tunnel in all three mouse strains. However, the impact of the handling techniques on the behavioural parameters investigated in the present study were strain-specific. All behavioural parameters suggested that NZW mice benefited the most from tunnel handling. The results obtained from Hello Kitty and WNK mice were ambiguous, which may suggest that a brief handling session during the cage clean may have
    not been sufficient to habituate them to the process of handling. It took the animal technicians approximately 3 seconds longer per mouse when using a tunnel. The strain-specific results should encourage researchers to share their experiences with non-aversive handling techniques in different mouse strains, for example, along with their research articles.