Frustration and perseveration in stereotypic captive animals: is a taste of enrichment worse than none at all?

Stereotypic behaviours are common in animals in impoverished housing, arising from two complementary processes: (1) thwarted attempts to perform motivated behaviours; (2) forebrain dysfunction impeding normal behavioural inhibition. When enriched animals are moved to impoverished housing, they are sometimes protected against developing stereotypic behaviour, but in other cases become even more stereotypic than animals housed lifelong without enrichment. Negative contrast-induced frustration must occur in both scenarios.

Report of the 2006 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group meeting.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group holds a one-day meeting every autumn to discuss current welfare research and to exchange views on rodent welfare issues. A key aim of the group is to encourage people to think about the lifetime experience of laboratory rodents, ensuring that every potential influence on their well-being has been reviewed and refined. Speakers at the 2006 meeting presented preliminary findings of ongoing studies and discussed regulatory updates.