GUEST EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION Training Nonhuman Primates Using Positive Reinforcement Techniques

Training nonhuman primates to cooperate with routine scientific, husbandry, and veterinary procedures is recommended as good practice by many legislative and professional guidelines (Home Office, 1989; International Primatological Society, 1989). Despite this, the scientific literature on this topic is sparse and disparate, and training is not used as widely as it might be. This may be due to the paucity of information on how to train and its potential benefits, together with the lack of reliable assessment of the potential costs of training. Whatever the reason, it is unfortunate because training can reduce the fear, anxiety, and distress known to be caused to primates by many traditional methods of carrying out procedures (Reinhardt, Liss, & Stevens, 1995). Primates in the laboratory may experience a plethora of potential stressors including physical and chemical restraint, venipuncture, injection, and participation in other husbandry routines such as catching, cage change, and weighing. Training them to cooperate voluntarily, using positive reinforcement training (PRT) techniques, is one means of significantly reducing the adverse impact of such procedures and husbandry routines on them and, therefore, is a refinement. Refinement JOURNAL OF APPLIED ANIMAL WELFARE SCIENCE, 6(3), 157–161 Copyright © 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.