The laboratory animal is an important tool in the life science and the biomedical industry. The laboratory animal welfare not only ensures animals'health and happiness, but is also important for generating accurate, reliable, and repeatable results in the laboratory. With the development of society, more and more researchers become aware of the significance of the laboratory animal welfare. Ensuring the laboratory animal welfare facilitates the progress of science and technology. At the same time, the progress of science and technology also promotes the laboratory animal welfare. This paper reviews the history of the development of the concept and the requirements of the laboratory animal welfare. The mutual beneficial role between the progress of science and technology and the development of the laboratory animal welfare is specially addressed. The deficiency in the laboratory animal welfare in China is pointed out, and it is hoped that the laboratory animals can better serve the human health and the social development.

laboratory animal  /  laboratory animal welfare  /  3R principle