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Most laboratory animal units look like this: locked doors, alarms, and a feeling of secrecy - what is it that really goes on in there? (We will be going in soon). Actually, there are several good reasons for the locked doors:

• The animals need quiet and responsible handling, by people who understand the needs of the animals. It is important that the animals know the people by whom they are being handled. Animals, whether they are farm animals, pets or laboratory animals, can be easily frightened by strangers. By reducing stress, we can achieve better research results, and therefore use fewer animals.
  
• To further reduce the number of animals used, it is important that the Unit is kept clean and free from animal diseases. Besides being unpleasant for the animals, an outbreak of disease during an experiment may affect the results and quite possibly make it necessary to repeat it with new animals. It is because of this need to keep the spread of disease to a minimum that we limit access to laboratory animal units ( most laboratory animals have a much better health status than those you can buy at the pet store!)
  
• A laboratory animal unit should not be a kind of supermarket for laboratory animals, where researchers can just walk in and start a project whenever they choose. No experiment using animals can be performed without special permission. Each experiment must be carefully planned and approved before the researcher is allowed to start. This means that we only have animals in the Unit that are actually being used in approved experiments. By having the doors locked, we are, in a way, saying to the researchers that they only have a need to visit the Unit when they have animals here that are in an approved experiment.
  
• The final reason for the locked doors is that a laboratory animal unit often houses expensive equipment. Employees at the unit feel much more secure, and able to concentrate on their work, when not having to worry about unexpected, unwanted visitors. So does the locked door mean we do not want anyone visiting the Unit? Not at all. We have never refused anyone admittance to the unit. It has happened that we have had to ask people to come back at another time, for example if we have new-born rats or mice in the Unit that need a few days of peace and quiet, but we have never denied access because of secrecy.