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Requirements for Animal Housing Locations

Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes
April 30, 2024  Animal Subjects, Policies

IACUC Policy: 015-10, Effective Date: 04/24/2006, Last Revision: 04/15/2022

Overview/Purpose

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge (ERIK) attending veterinarian have oversight of the health and well-being of all laboratory animals used at the institution with regards to veterinary care and animal husbandry and housing. The IACUC must review and approve any exceptions or departures from the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Guide) standards, Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals (Ag Guide) standards, or the standard operating procedures (SOPs)/standard maintenance procedures (SMPs) of the housing area. The purpose of this policy is to ensure uniform procedures for housing. 

Definitions

  • Housing: an area that houses United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-covered species for greater than 12 hours or any other vertebrate species for greater than 24 hours. 
  • Dedicated Housing Areas: facilities designed to provide animal housing and managed by dedicated staff. In e-protocol, these housing areas can be selected from the drop-down menu. (i.e. University Laboratory and Animal Resources (ULAR) vivarium, Biomedical Research Tower (BRT) - BSL3, College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), Veterinary Medical Center, etc.) 
  • Satellite Housing Areas: locations outside of dedicated housing used to house animals. In the e-protocol drop-down list you must select “Non-ULAR/Investigator Spaces”. 

Requirements for All Housing Areas 

  • A SOP or SMP must be developed in consultation with the ERIK attending veterinarian to outline husbandry practices. Social housing and environmental enrichment should be addressed.
    • Protocols requesting housing of animals in a dedicated area but requiring housing needs or special equipment not currently addressed in an IACUC-approved SOP/SMP must provide the details in the housing section of the protocol (select Housing location and check “Yes” to non-standard care). 
    • Alternatively, details can be outlined in a standalone SOP. 
  • Guide exceptions
    • The IACUC must review and approve any programmatic exceptions or departures from the Guide standards, Ag Guide standards; or protocol-specific exceptions to the housing SOP/SMP.
    • Requests should include sufficient information showing the exception will not adversely affect the welfare of the animals or demonstrate that production standards will continue to be met despite the departure. 
    • Examples of departures from the Guide include:
      • Single housing of social animals 
      • Housing animals at temperatures outside the recommended ranges
      • Sanitization schedules outside the recommended frequency 
      • Housing rodents without contact bedding (i.e. metabolic cages or CLAMS cages) 
  • A work schedule/log sheet or electronic record must be used to document task completion. 
    • Refer to IACUC policy Documentation of Husbandry Procedures for specific items that require documentation 
    • Work Schedule examples are available for mice static; mice and rat ventilated; aquatic species and can be modified as needed. 
  • An Emergency Plan
  • An environmental alarm system must be in place for housing locations with environmental controls.
    • Alternatively, justification for an exemption (i.e., increased frequency of animal checks, type of housing minimally impacted by temperature excursions) must be approved by IACUC.
    • Alarm set points must be noted in the SOP/SMP and should be designed specific to the needs of the species, season, and/or facility. For example: Mice are more sensitive to the higher end of the temperature range.
    • Environmental alarm systems must be tested/verified semi-annually (at a minimum) with documentation made available during IACUC semi-annual inspections.
    • Alarm systems with a battery backup must be tested monthly.
  • Oversight
    • The ERIK attending veterinarian must be provided access to all animal housing locations per regulatory requirements.

Additional Requirement for Satellite Housing 

  • Protocols that request satellite housing must include:
    • Justification for housing animals outside of a Dedicated Housing Area 
    • A complete description of the physical space and/or equipment 
    • Identification of Guide or SOP/SMP exemptions when applicable 
  • Resources

Applicable Regulations

  • Animal Welfare Act (AWA, Public Law 89-544, 7 U.S.C.) 
  • Animal Welfare Act Regulations (AWAR, 9 CFR, Chapter 1, Subchapter A) 
  • Health Research Extension Act of 1985 and Public Health Service (PHS) Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals 
  • National Research Council Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, Eighth Edition. National Academy of Sciences, 2011 
  • The American Dairy Science Association, the American Society of Animal Science, and the Poultry Science Association Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching, Fourth edition 

Revision History

  • 015-00 – new policy approved 04/24/2006 
  • 015-01 – revised 03/23/2007 
  • 015-02 – revised 08/21/2009 
  • 015-03 – revised 06/21/2013 
  • 015-04 – revised 12/20/2013 
  • 015-05 – revised the frequency of reviewing SOP/SMP from at least annually to at least once every three years, also the policy was put into the new format; approved 11/20/2015 
  • 015-06 – revised to require a work schedule/log sheet for documentation of tasks completed as part of the SOP/SMP and use of template SOPs (mouse static/ventilated or rat ventilated) when applicable; approved 08/18/2017 
  • 015-07 – revised to remove required use of template work schedule/log sheet; approved 09/15/2017 
  • 015-08 – revised to add additional example of Guide exception and additional guidance documents; Requirement #1 edited to clarify information needed for any requests for special housing needs or equipment; Requirement #5 revised to add attending veterinarian (AV); approved 11/17/2017 
  • 015-09 – revised to make use of aquatic template SOP mandatory; approved 5/17/2019 
  • 015-10 – Name changed from Housing Requirements for Animals to Requirements for Animal Housing Locations. Overview/purpose updated, definitions updated, and requirements reformatted; approved 4/15/2022 
Requirements for Animal Housing Locations
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes April 30, 2024