How enriched housing for laboratory mice improves welfare while maintaining research validity, and what standard laboratory mouse welfare looks like.
Laboratory mouse welfare sits at the intersection of animal ethics and research validity. Mice in impoverished laboratory housing may experience significant welfare compromise from lack of enrichment, social deprivation, and inability to express natural behaviours including burrowing, nesting, and climbing. But enrichment also matters for research: stressed, poorly-housed mice are more likely to show confounded results from elevated baseline stress hormones. Enrichment that improves welfare often improves research quality too — a convergence of ethical and scientific interests that should drive widespread adoption. The NC3Rs evidence review on mouse housing provides a clear framework for welfare-positive laboratory mouse management that is compatible with rigorous research.