The enrichment devices increased foraging, social play, and solitary play behaviors. Sedentary behaviors decreased. Depending on the type of enrichment item used, the effects on agonism and manipulation of enrichment item were variable. To make informed management decisions about the psychological well being of captive animals, it is important to objectively quantify and examine the influences on their behavior. Animal Care Committees at Canadian universities and research centers operate under the aegis of the Canadian Council on Animal Care and its guidelines for the humane care and treatment of animals in teaching, research and testing.
All Canadian universities have at least one active committee.
The committees are expected to assume an educative role beyond the provision of information concerning housing, maintenance, and appropriate conditions for the treatment of animals in research. This includes critical examination of the serious ethical issues involved in animal research within the context of the principles and practices endorsed by Canadian Council. The altered slaughter procedures and lack of rendering facilities meant an initial backlog of OTMS animals having to remain on farms. This placed pressures on accommodation and feed stocks, the latter being in short supply because of a poor grass growth the previous summer. Initially, the long delay before the removal of casualty animals from the farm resulted in increased summer mastitis problems for nonlactating cows.