Mice are the most commonly used laboratory animals globally, with over 100 million used annually, yet their welfare needs for social interaction, enrichment, and pain management are frequently inadequately met.
Laboratory mice experience welfare compromises including social isolation, barren environments, chronic pain from disease models, and handling stress. The scale of mouse use in research means that even small improvements in welfare standards represent enormous benefits across millions of animals. Implementation of enrichment and social housing significantly improves mouse welfare and often improves data quality.