Let’s Stay Together: Implications of Social Housing for Laboratory Pig Welfare and Management

Appropriately accommodating the pig’s normal social behavior is an essential step in protecting its well-being in managed environments. Doing so is particularly important in laboratory settings in which distress due to social isolation and other factors can introduce unnecessary variability and induce physiological and behavioral coping mechanisms that can undermine the validity of research results.

In a laboratory setting, it is important to provide housing that allows expression in a wide range of species-typical behaviors while also meeting the goals of the researcher. Substandard housing can lead to aggression, stereotypic behavior, anxiety and depression which will, in turn, affect research outcomes. Understanding the animal’s natural behavior, enables us to build quality environments that meet physical, behavioral and social needs. Proper design is critical for improved health and welfare, both of which impact scientific validity.