Animal Research Review

1. Activities that may require animal research review

Formal review may be required when a project involves the care, use, acquisition, breeding, transport, observation, testing, manipulation, or euthanasia of live vertebrate animals.

2. Core principles of animal research oversight

• Animal use should have a scientifically or educationally justified purpose.
• Non-animal alternatives should be considered before animal use is proposed.
• The species and number of animals should be appropriate to the question.
• Pain, distress, fear, discomfort, and lasting harm should be minimized.
• Personnel should be trained and supervised for every assigned procedure.
• Housing, nutrition, sanitation, enrichment, transport, and veterinary care should meet applicable standards.
• Humane endpoints should be defined before work begins.
• Unexpected events should be reported promptly and investigated.
• Approval should be subject to monitoring, amendment review, and suspension when necessary.

3. Possible review determinations

4. Information needed for review

A complete submission should allow reviewers to understand why animals are needed, what each animal will experience, how welfare will be monitored, and who is responsible.

• research or teaching purpose and expected value;
• species, strain, sex, age, source, and number of animals;
• statistical or scientific justification for animal numbers;
• consideration of non-animal alternatives;
• complete description of procedures and timelines;
• restraint, anesthesia, analgesia, sedation, surgery, and recovery plans;
• anticipated pain, distress, adverse effects, and monitoring;
• humane endpoints and euthanasia methods;
• housing, enrichment, transport, quarantine, and veterinary arrangements;
• personnel qualifications, training, and supervision;
• biosafety, chemical, radiation, field, wildlife, and environmental risks;
• collaborators, facilities, funding, permits, and institutional agreements.

5. Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement

Animal research planning should apply the Three Rs as a continuing responsibility rather than a one-time statement.

6. Pain, distress, and adverse effects

Researchers should assume that procedures painful to humans may also cause pain in animals unless reliable evidence supports a different conclusion.

• Pain and distress should be prevented or minimized whenever scientifically possible.
• Anesthesia, analgesia, sedation, and supportive care should be used when appropriate.
• Withholding pain relief requires strong scientific justification and formal approval.
• Animals should be monitored at intervals appropriate to the expected risk.
• Clinical signs, body condition, behavior, intake, mobility, wounds, and recovery should be documented.
• Escalation criteria should identify when veterinary consultation or intervention is required.
• Humane endpoints should prevent unnecessary progression to severe suffering or death.

7. Housing, husbandry, and veterinary care

• appropriate housing, temperature, ventilation, lighting, sanitation, and noise control;
• suitable food, water, bedding, enrichment, and social conditions;
• quarantine, health surveillance, and disease-control procedures;
• daily observation by qualified personnel;
• timely veterinary evaluation and treatment;
• separation or special housing only when scientifically or medically justified;
• documented emergency plans for power loss, fire, severe weather, evacuation, and system failure;
• secure transport and transfer arrangements that protect welfare and containment.

8. Personnel qualifications and training

• species-specific handling and restraint;
• recognition of pain, distress, illness, and abnormal behavior;
• anesthesia, analgesia, surgery, recovery, and euthanasia where applicable;
• aseptic technique and infection control;
• occupational health, allergy, bite, scratch, zoonotic, and exposure risks;
• biosafety, chemical, radiation, equipment, and field hazards;
• recordkeeping, incident reporting, and emergency response;
• supervised competency assessment before independent work.

9. Procedures, surgery, and humane endpoints

• Use appropriate restraint and avoid unnecessary duration or intensity.
• Use aseptic technique and suitable facilities for survival surgery.
• Provide preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative monitoring.
• Define recovery criteria and responsibility for follow-up care.
• Avoid multiple major survival surgeries unless justified and approved.
• Establish objective intervention and humane-endpoint criteria.
• Use approved euthanasia methods appropriate to the species and circumstances.
• Confirm death before disposal, necropsy, or further handling.

10. Changes, noncompliance, and reportable incidents

Material changes to approved animal activities should be reviewed before implementation unless immediate action is necessary to protect animal welfare.

• unexpected illness, injury, death, escape, or severe distress;
• failure of anesthesia, analgesia, monitoring, containment, or environmental controls;
• deviations from approved procedures or animal numbers;
• use of unapproved personnel, locations, species, or methods;
• housing, sanitation, transport, or veterinary-care failures;
• occupational exposures, bites, scratches, allergies, or zoonotic events;
• complaints or concerns about animal care or treatment;
• loss of records, specimens, animals, equipment, or controlled materials.

Corrective action may include veterinary intervention, retraining, protocol amendment, increased monitoring, temporary suspension, termination, facility correction, or external reporting.

11. Continuing review and project closure

Approved animal activities may require periodic review, annual reporting, post-approval monitoring, facility inspection, veterinary review, and renewal before expiration.

• final animal numbers and disposition;
• remaining breeding colonies or transferred animals;
• unresolved welfare, veterinary, or compliance concerns;
• specimen, tissue, data, and record retention;
• equipment, facility, and hazardous-material disposition;
• publications, corrections, and future related work.

12. Request an animal research determination

Until a dedicated submission system and formal oversight body are active, researchers may contact the Institute for preliminary guidance or referral to a qualified external IACUC.