New scientific knowledge and animal welfare concerns led to including cephalopods in the new European Directive on animal protection (Directive 2010/63/EU) making them the first invertebrates obtaining protection. Knowledge of the welfare and best experimental practices for these species has been scarce, scattered among research groups and lacking consensus. Dedicated recent efforts will shortly produce Code of Practice and general Guidelines for care and management of cephalopods in research and education. However, practical implementation and dedicated species-specific procedures to comply with the Directive are required. CephsInAction will establish an interdisciplinary network of experts who will promote training, dissemination, sharing of tools and knowledge to improve such procedures, and it will foster multi-disciplinary and inter-species scientific exchanges to integrate knowledge on welfare practices. A network of experts and users will collect, refine, distribute and improve knowledge that is currently distributed between research groups and available only to them. This will allow development of new experimental practices, actions for reduction, refinement and reuse principles when applied to cephalopods. This COST Action is also aimed to support emerging scientific demands, and to promote cephalopod research, conservation and public awareness.
Cephalopod Biology and Welfare - Animal Care - Public Awareness - Training and Dissemination - Three Rs Principles
