Laboratory Animal Refinement Forum (LAREF)

The purpose of this electronic discussion forum, moderated by Viktor Reinhardt (see his and other publications from the Animal Welfare Institute, AWI), is the exchange of experiences about ways to improve the conditions under which animals in laboratories are housed and handled. The group is intended to serve the international animal care community in its attempt to promote animal welfare and improve scientific methodology by avoiding or eliminating husbandry-related stress situations. The forum is open to animal care personnel, animal technicians, students, attending veterinarians and researchers who have or had first-hand experience in the care of animals kept in laboratories.

More details about how to join the forum are posted on LAREF's website, hosted by the Animal Welfare Institute.
The website includes a list of published discussions from the forum, two refinement and enrichment databases (one on non-human primates and one on other species), a list of online guides and laws, and publications.

See also The Refinement Database, a curated collection of published scientific articles and books on topics related to the refinement of housing, husbandry, care, and use of animals in research and testing. The database is intended to provide the most up-to-date information on best practices for improving or safeguarding animal welfare. It is updated every four months.

The discussions from 2002 to 2024 have been collated by the forum's moderator Viktor Reinhardt and are published on Norecopa's website with permission. The collection is divided into the following sections:

• Basic issues
• Sections with discussions on mice, rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, dogs, cats, squirrel monkeys, marmosets, cynomolgus macaques, pigs, goats and sheep
• Miscellaneous comments
• Literature references

The collection may be downloaded here.

See also the Refinement Wiki for more discussions about refinement and animal welfare.