Lifting laboratory rats: a survey of methods, handlers’ reasons and concerns, and rat behavioural responses (2023)
Journal Article
Burn, C., Camacho, T., & Hockenhull, J. (2023). Lifting laboratory rats: a survey of methods, handlers’ reasons and concerns, and rat behavioural responses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 268, Article 106077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2023.106077

Lifting mice by the tail is of animal welfare and scientific concern, but rat lifting methods are little researched, potentially differing from mice. Using an online questionnaire we explored different methods for lifting laboratory rats, alongside h... Read More about Lifting laboratory rats: a survey of methods, handlers’ reasons and concerns, and rat behavioural responses.

The Gordon Memorial Lecture: Laying hen welfare (2023)
Journal Article
Nicol, C. (2023). The Gordon Memorial Lecture: Laying hen welfare. British Poultry Science, 64(4), 441-447. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071668.2023.2211891

reference tests remain a useful tool in the assessment of laying hen welfare and have been used to establish what types of resources and enrichments are most likely to meet the birds’ needs. Evidence on the underlying structure of bird preference sug... Read More about The Gordon Memorial Lecture: Laying hen welfare.

Expert assessment of the impact of ship-strikes on cetacean welfare using the Welfare Assessment Tool for Wild Cetaceans (2023)
Journal Article
Rae, F., Nicol, C., & Simmonds, M. (2023). Expert assessment of the impact of ship-strikes on cetacean welfare using the Welfare Assessment Tool for Wild Cetaceans. Animal Welfare Journal, 32, Article e18. https://doi.org/10.1017/awf.2023.7

Human activities are increasingly impacting our oceans and the focus of attention tends to be on their environmental impacts, rather than consequences for animal welfare. Global shipping density has quadrupled since 1992. Unsurprisingly, increased le... Read More about Expert assessment of the impact of ship-strikes on cetacean welfare using the Welfare Assessment Tool for Wild Cetaceans.

Applying clinical audit for quality improvement in canine dystocia cases seen at a UK primary-care emergency practice (2023)
Journal Article
O'Neill, D., Leicester, L., Reid, A., Marshall, R., & Gilbert, S. (2023). Applying clinical audit for quality improvement in canine dystocia cases seen at a UK primary-care emergency practice. Veterinary Record, https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.2485

Background: The paucity of published veterinary clinical audits suggests that
clinical audit is an under-used tool for quality improvement (QI) in the veterinary
profession. Therefore, a continuous QI process was designed and
implemented at a UK m... Read More about Applying clinical audit for quality improvement in canine dystocia cases seen at a UK primary-care emergency practice.