Transport is a significant but underappreciated welfare challenge for laboratory animals, causing physiological stress, immune suppression and behavioural disturbance that can affect both animal welfare and research outcomes.
Transport stress is often treated as unavoidable background noise rather than a welfare issue requiring active management. Animals arriving at new facilities show disrupted circadian rhythms, suppressed immune responses and altered pain thresholds — all of which undermine research validity and represent genuine suffering. The scientific and welfare cases for improved transport protocols are therefore aligned. Simple interventions such as familiar bedding transfer, appropriate group housing during transit, temperature-controlled vehicles and structured acclimatisation periods substantially reduce stress. Greater collaboration between institutions to reduce unnecessary animal transfers would provide the most significant welfare benefit.