Welfare is not a footnote to medical-grade supply — it is the mechanism that produces it. A well-kept animal is a reliable clinical tool.
What welfare-led husbandry looks like
- Clean, managed water with controlled parameters
- Appropriate density and holding conditions
- Considered feeding and fasting cycles
- Minimised, careful handling through to dispatch
Welfare and quality are the same thing
Stress, poor water and crowding degrade health, behaviour and the salivary pharmacology that makes leech therapy work. Welfare standards and clinical reliability are two views of the same supply chain.