The design and management of transport containers for laboratory animals significantly affects welfare during the movement between facilities, and standardized welfare-focused container design reduces stress.
Transport container design represents a welfare challenge where engineering and animal behavior must be integrated. A container that is secure for containment purposes but inadequately ventilated, too small, or without bedding causes welfare harms that accumulate over the transport duration. Small rodents are particularly vulnerable — their high surface area to volume ratio and fast metabolic rate mean temperature and gas concentration changes that would be tolerable for larger animals become dangerous quickly. The welfare principle is that containers should meet animal needs — space for normal posture, adequate ventilation, appropriate temperature, and familiar bedding — while providing the containment, identification, and biosecurity functions required. Institutions that have invested in welfare-focused container design and transport protocol standardization report lower post-transport mortality and faster return to normal behavior after arrival.