Health – Protection from pain, injury, suffering and disease and treated if they become ill or injured. Behaviour – the ability to behave naturally for their species eg. Play, run, dig, jump, fly etc. Companionship – to be housed with, or apart from, other animals as appropriate for the species.

Animal welfare serves as a cornerstone, or foundation, for laboratory animal medicine and the use of animals in research. ‘Animal welfare’ also refers to a measurable state in an animal which may be related to the adequacy of an animal’s ability to cope with its environment.