[Euthanasia of small rodents. Reasons, methods and assessment of animal welfare]

Euthanasia of vertebrates requires a high extend of responsibility and specified knowledge, according to the regulations of the German Animal Welfare Act. Every day innumerable vertebrates, including small rodents, were euthanized from various reasons. Only part of these cases are supervised by official authorities. In this paper the available methods of euthanasia, especially of small rodents, are explained and an assessment under the aspects of animal welfare is undertaken.