The Laboratory Animal Unit at The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science is a service unit reporting directly to the School's Rector.  The Unit plays a national role in the education of those who work with experimental animals, by arranging courses for all categories of people working with research animals.

The Unit has facilities for research on rodents, rabbits, pigs, sheep, goats, cattle and other farm animals. The Unit provides services for all the School's departments and also carries out a good deal of contract research, in particular for the National Veterinary Institute, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, the University of Oslo and the city hospitals.

The Unit is visited regularly by schoolchildren and the mass media (Guided Tour on the Internet).

The Unit has collected information on nearly 4,000 audiovisual aids that may be used as alternatives to animals in teaching and training, including dissection alternatives, at all levels from junior school to University.  This information has been used to create an English-language database called NORINA (A Norwegian Inventory of Audiovisuals), which is available free of charge on this website.

Modern laboratory animal science builds on the three Rs of Russell & Burch:

• Replace - replace animal experiments where possible with alternatives.
  
• Reduce - reduce the number of experiments, and the number of animals in each experiment, to an absolute minimum.
  
• Refine - refine experiments that have to be carried out, so that the animals undergo the minimum of discomfort (preferably none at all), and such that the scientific quality is as high as possible.

The Laboratory Animal Unit's primary aim is to ensure that the three Rs are followed in practice.

You will find more general information on laboratory animal science, which we have assembled especially for schoolchildren, by clicking here.

Her er mer informasjon om dyreforsøk på norsk.

Click here for more general information about the Unit.