Why All Healthy Laboratory Animals Should Be Rehomed, No Matter How Small

Abstract

This paper explores the ethical imperative of rehoming all healthy animals of sentient species after experiments have finished or when they have become otherwise redundant. We take into account disparate perspectives in animal ethics and see how they point in the same direction. We illustrate our case with our own rehoming experience from the joint Animal Welfare Body of Utrecht University and the University Medical Centre Utrecht, the Netherlands. The primary pilot proved successful, after which the principle of rehoming became standing policy and common practice. We discuss several challenges and our responses to those through continuous evaluation of the adoption program.

Celebrating Women in Science: Pioneering Contributions to Animal Behaviour and Welfare

“…In the following article, Van Loo and Janssens [9] explore why it is ethical to rehome all healthy laboratory animals after the experiments have finished, and report their experience from successfully rehoming more than 1700 laboratory animals over the last four years. In order to ensure the animals' welfare, they built a framework and provided adoptive owners with recommendations.…”