Sharing information on 3Rs and Best Practice in Wild Terrestrial Mammal Research

The Norwegian National Committee for the protection of Animals used for Scientific Purposes invited other national committees (NC), 3R centres, competent authorities and researchers in Europe to an online meeting on 3Rs in wild terrestrial mammal research.  

See invitation here: 
/invitation-to-the-upcoming-online-meeting-on-3rs-and-best-practice-in-wild-terrestrial-mammal-research/ 

The meeting was arranged on teams on October 14th, 2025. 

The Objectives of the meeting was to establish contact for dialogue and exchange information on recent science and best practice in the use of wild terrestrial mammals for scientific and educational purposes.
As many as 92 participants signed into the meeting, including representatives from the NCs in Germany and Norway, the Swedish 3R Centre, member of the Commission on animal experiments of the Canton of Zurich Switzerland, Slovenian National Ethics Committee for Research on Animals, Lithuanian Ethics Committee for the Use of Laboratory Animals, member of the Animal Welfare Body of the National institute of Health in Rome, Italy, Norecopa, the Norwegian Competent Authority, and scientists from all over Europe. 

Introductory to the discussions on the topic, two presentations were given: 

 Prof. Carl Soulsbury, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK: 
“The welfare and ethics of research involving wild animals: A primer”  Wild Animal Welfare 2025.

 Prof. Jon Martin Arnemo, University of Inland, Norway: 
“The 5 Rs and Best Practice in Wild Terrestrial Mammal Research”  Arnemo 2025 The 5Rs and Best Practice in Wild Terrestrial Mammals. 

Following the presentations, the participants asked questions to the presenters and discussed and shared information on various topics related to wild terrestrial mammal research. 

The participants were encouraged to share resources about the 3Rs in the Teams chat during the meeting. Here we present the shared information: 

– Home office licensee training course – Wildlife at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at The University of Edinburgh:
https://vet.ed.ac.uk/education/cpd/courses-final/online/home-office-licensee-training-course-wildlife 

– Course in Animal Experimentation for Wildlife Researchers EU-function A, B, D at NMBU: 
https://www.nmbu.no/evu/forsoksdyrkurs-viltforskere 

-Norecopas resource page for research on wildlife and wild fish: 
https://norecopa.no/species/wildlife-and-wild-fish/ 

-Best-practice guidelines for field-based surgery and anesthesia of free-ranging wildlife I. Anesthesia and analgesia: 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26845296/ 

-Best-practice guidelines for field-based surgery and anesthesia of free-ranging wildlife II. Surgery: 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26845297/ 

-The PREPARE guidelines: 
https://norecopa.no/prepare/ 

-The ARRIVE guidelines: 
https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-020-02451-y 

-The STRANGE guidance: 
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01751-5 

Webinar med svensk 3R senter om 3R på ville dyr:
https://jordbruksverket.se/languages/english/swedish-board-of-agriculture/animals/the-swedish-3rs-c…