Purpose: To give a brief description of the Animal Welfare Act
Scope: All University faculty, staff, researchers, and students who use or care for laboratory animals.
Policy:
Animal Welfare Act. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 and its amendments (most recently in 2002) regulate the transportation, purchase, care, and treatment of regulated animals used in research, teaching, for exhibitions, sold as pets, or transported in commerce.
The Act specifically includes dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, and wild animal species intended for use in research. The federal regulations specifically define animal as "any live or dead dog, cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or any other warm blooded animal, which is being used, or is intended for use for research, teaching, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet. This term excludes: Birds, rats of the genus Rattus and mice of the genus Mus bred for use in research, and horses and other farm animals..."
Recent amendments address such issues as exercise for dogs; care of nonhuman primates to ensure their psychological well‑being; the composition and duties of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; responsibilities of the attending veterinarian; and training of all personnel using laboratory animals in experimentation. They also require the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee to review all protocols using animals to make certain that they meet criteria listed in the amendments, and to conduct semiannual inspections of all animal study areas and animal facilities. At the present time, federal regulations implementing the above amendments requiring exercise for dogs and methods to ensure the psychological well‑being of non‑human primates are still pending.
The Animal Welfare Act is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture. Research facilities are subject to unannounced inspections by USDA veterinarians, and are required to file an annual report listing the species and numbers of animals used in research, and certifying that anesthetic, analgesic, and tranquilizing drugs were used appropriately during research and testing.
Failure to comply with USDA standards may result in civil or criminal prosecution and suspension of animal research activities.
Approvals:
| approved by | date |
|---|---|
| IACUC Committee | June 2016 |
Revision History: June 2013
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