Requirements for Animal Care & Use
Training Requirements
Personal Hygiene
Procurement of Animals
Receiving Laboratory Animals
Quarantine
Training Requirements
Training of all full or part-time animal care staff, technicians, graduate students and faculty to assure and maintain proficiency in working with animals is a requirement of the AWA. In order to comply with this requirement, each new employee fitting into the above categories is required to take training in regulations and guidelines for using animals. Two training sessions for new faculty, staff and students will be conducted each year covering general regulations related to animal care. Other sessions will be scheduled as needed.
Unit administrators will notify IACP when new faculty, graduate students, technicians, or animal care personnel are hired. Special training sessions will be scheduled as needed.
A series of video tapes involving the use and handling of different species of animals are available at 110 Mussehl Hall. Contact IACP for a list or to view these tapes.
A record will be kept so IACP can verify that appropriate training has been provided to technicians or graduate students before approval will be granted for requests where those technicians or graduate students are listed as part of the project. When training is provided by the P.I. or other qualified personnel, a letter to IACP indicating who was trained and what subjects were covered will help the IACUC document that appropriate training has taken place for each individual.
If a program or investigator continually has deficiencies in compliance with the guidelines as set forth in this document, the IACUC will require personnel to have additional training in order to continue the project.
Personal Hygiene
It is essential for animal care staff to maintain a high standard of personal cleanliness to reduce the chance of transmission of disease. Facilities and supplies for meeting the personal hygiene requirement should include the availability of suitable clothing and laundering services. Disposable items such as gloves, masks, head covers, coats, coveralls and shoe covers are acceptable. Outer garments worn in laborabory animal rooms must not be worn outside of the animal facilities. Personnel must not eat, drink, smoke or apply cosmetics in animal rooms.
Procurement of Animals
Procurement of animals will be done in accordance with state and federal laws. Most states, Nebraska included, have laws requiring health certificates for animals being shipped into the state. The purchaser and the animal vendor must be aware of the requirements or call the State Veterinarian (402-471-2351) before shipment or before procurement of animals from out of state.
When approval is requested for the use of animals, a certain number to be used is specified on the project by the applicant. In order for the IACUC to have a record of how many animals have been ordered on a project, the requisitions must be approved by the IACUC before laboratory animals are purchased. The animals for a project can be ordered by the investigator in any quantity he/she desires, but each requisition requires approval by the IACUC office before the order is placed.
Receiving Laboratory Animals
It is especially important for the employee receiving animals from vendors to be alert to signs of mishandling. Precautions should be taken to minimize the amount of stress and disease subsequent to receiving the animals.
Accurate receiving records are important to ensure prompt payment and retrieval of information about a particular shipment. The USDA regulations require receiving records to be kept for at least one year beyond actual purchase and use of dogs or cats. Information to be recorded is date, source, species, who ordered, individual identification, who received them and comments.
Signs of mishandling may include damage to the box, wet boxes, or up-side-down boxes. Damaged containers or obvious mishandling should be noted on the handler's receiving slip. Next, check the animal(s) for signs of illness and check for dead animals and record any abnormal appearance. Excessively wet bedding may cause hypothermia and should be noted. Animals appearing to be unhealthy or damaged in shipment should not be accepted from the carrier. If possible, a veterinarian should evaluate animals when there are questions. Once animals are accepted, they should be put into a proper environment. Condition and health should be evaluated before assignment to experiments. Over-stressed animals are of questionable value for a research project. Animals have been reported to have abnormal physiology for at least 72 hours due to the stress of shipping.
Laboratory animals must be purchased from USDA licensed, reputable dealers. Vendors will be inspected and approved by IACP if questionable health status animals are received at UNL. Acquiring wildlife will be done in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
Quarantine
The goal of quarantining newly arrived animals is:
- To give the animals sufficient time to acclimate to new surroundings
- To recover from transportation stress
- To evaluate the health of the new arrivals
- To prevent them from transmitting diseases to animals in existing colonies
An acceptable quarantine period will be determined by the attending veterinarian, in cooperation with the investigator. This period will be based on knowledge of possible diseases and experience with the vendors of the animals. Quality control by the vendor and a knowledge of the history of the animals are acceptable parts of an institution's quarantine protocol. This information may limit the quarantine period for rodents to the time necessary for inspection on arrival, however, all newly received animals should be allowed a stabilization period, appropriate to the situation, prior to their use.
Separation of animals based on species is required. Separation by source of purchase is advisable because they may differ in disease susceptibility and microbial flora. Do not bring animals from other facilities and put them in with animals that are already established until an acceptable quarantine period has lapsed.
Pets or animals, other than for research or teaching, will not be permitted in any campus facility without approval from the IACUC. This includes animals owned by faculty, staff, or students. Cats used for vermin control (barn cats) will be identified, properly vaccinated, and approved by the UNL IACUC.
