Housing Animals in LAR facilities

Per Diem Rates

Census

Investigator Notifications

Overcrowded Cages

Cage Labeling Requirements

Disposal of Dead Animals

Movement of Animals (Including use of elevators)
NON-LAR MAINTAINED ANIMAL HOUSING

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Safety in the Animal Vivarium
Certification Dates for Safety Equipment

Housing and Husbandry Protocol

Per Diem Rates

Per Diem charges cover the costs of all routine animal husbandry, which includes veterinary care. Click on Current rates to view Laboratory Animal Resources’ (LAR) rates for this fiscal year. Every three years a re-evaluation of our per diem rates are performed by an accounting firm contracted by LAR. After careful review by LAR the new prices are implemented, usually the next fiscal year. Investigators as a rule should always plan on a percentage increase of at least 4% per year in per diems and services.

Census

Every animal room contains a red ring binder called the room logbook that contains current census data for the animals housed in the room. Animal technicians count either the cages and tanks (rodents, frogs, and turtles) or animals (large animals) once a week and note additional cages when new animals are received. If researchers add or remove cages they should note any changes on the appropriate census form. Failure to do so may mean the PI is charged for cages and animals that are no longer there.

If per diem charges are divided among more than one fund/account (billing string) or grant, or if these numbers change, it is the investigator's responsibility to ensure that this information is accurately noted on the census form. Cage cards should be color coded or marked in a way to make distinctions visually obvious between the different groups.

Billing for animal orders and housing and purchase of special services and supplies is billed once a month to investigators’ accounts. Errors in billing or fund/accounts used should be reported to LAR’s billing specialist @5-8478 in room 2065 MSC. Review guidelines on how animal space is assigned by LAR.

Investigator Notifications

Animals Received

Investigators are called when new animals are delivered. The animal technicians remove the animals from their shipping containers, set them up in an animal room, and call the telephone number of the person noted on the cage card as the “contact person”. For operational purposes the animal technicians are obligated to call only once. If there is no answer and no way to leave a message (No voice mail or answering machine) then the researchers may not be notified. As another option you can provide an email address for the animal technician to use instead of the phone number. If you were expecting animals to arrive, call the area supervisor or lead for the area, if you’ve not been notified on the date scheduled for their arrival. Large animals such as monkeys, dogs, and cats may be subject to quarantine and conditioning. The length of the quarantine will depend on the animal's health history and expected use.

Animals are Sick or injured

Investigators are called when animals are found sick or injured, a sick card is placed on the cage for rapid identification purposes, and a sick report is sent to the veterinary staff. Investigators are required to post current contact information in order to facilitate communication about their animals. If the researchers cannot be contacted, sick animals may be treated or euthanized without their consent. Euthanized animals will be placed in either a refrigerator for researcher retrieval later or in the freezer for disposal. If the animals are placed in a refrigerator, the research staff has 48 hours to retrieve the carcasses before they are moved to the freezer for disposal. All larger animals that die as well as many small animals are sent to RARC for necropsy.

Animals Found Dead

Veterinary staff and investigators are called or emailed vetstaff@mailplus.wisc.edu when an animal is found dead, a note is made on the cage card; the veterinary staff must always be informed without exception. Animals that are found dead are either placed in the refrigerator for researcher retrieval or freezer for disposal. See the area supervisor or lead for the areas in your facility. The animal is bagged, the bag labeled with the room number, date found, and name of the PI name and protocol number on the cage card. The refrigerators are cleared every other day of rodents that are not retrieved by placing them in the freezers for disposal. Investigators should collect any desired animals promptly to prevent their unwanted disposal. Large animals that are found dead are necropsied.

Overcrowded Cages

Cages of rodents that exceed the AALAS recommended (see NRC Guide) number of animals per cage by size/weight will be reported to the researchers and an “Overcrowded Cage” index card will be placed on the cage-card holder for identification purposes. Research staff will have 24 hours to separate or wean the animals. If not separated or weaned within the time frame, then animal technicians are required to separate or wean the animals. Since this is very disruptive to the technician’s work flow a standard charge of $50.00 is levied for every cage that must be separated or weaned. To avoid this charge the researcher should 1) separate their animals and litters at the appropriate time points or 2) request an animal technician separate or wean the animals during their routine cleaning day(s). Special instructions can be kept in the room logbook for any special methods or identification procedures you require for your animals. The researchers are then billed for the technician’s time at 15-minute increments or $29.90 per hour (See 2008 Memo to Researchers).

Cage Labeling Requirements

All cage cards and large animal clinical records must provide the following information:

Source of the animal (e.g., name of commercial vendor or institution, breeding colony)
Strain or stock
Name(s) and phone number(s) of the responsible investigator
Pertinent dates (date of birth, date of arrival)
Protocol number (Letter M, G, V, etc., followed by 5 numbers) Example M11111.
Contact Name and contact information

All animals that are ordered through the LAR office will be provided with cage cards that meet these requirements. Investigators may use their own cage cards if they wish; however, they must provide cage cards for all new cages, whether for newly weaned animals or others.

The cage cards for monkeys and other species that may tend to chew or damage the cards, are kept in the room logbook. They are also identified by a tattoo, ID tag and clinical records that also have the required information.

Disposal of Dead Animals

Dead animals are placed in refrigerators for retrieval by researchers, unless indicated otherwise. Euthanized animals should be placed in the facility freezer designated for this purpose. See the area supervisor or lead for the location of these freezers in your facility.
Small rodents should be securely bagged and may be placed in the common collection barrel or boxed, if there are sufficient numbers to fill it. Please identify any animals that have been administered biological or chemical hazards so they can be properly sorted, packaged, labeled, and identified for transporting personnel.
Large animals should be securely bagged, placed in a cardboard box, and the box labeled with the forms that are provided. The boxes, forms, and labels are provided by LAR and can be found near the freezers. Please make sure the animals are double bagged, if needed, to prevent leakage.
No box may weigh more than 40 pounds! Any animal that exceeds this weight must be divided into multiple boxes. Investigators that do not conform will lose LAR privileges.
All animals placed in the freezer must have a pink UW Safety Department “Animal Disposal” form completed and either placed in the designated area for the common-barrels or attached to the box of animal carcasses.

Movement of Animals

Animals moved outside their immediate housing room must have prior approval by the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) and a SMPH Veterinarian. Movement outside their normal housing area is noted in questions 9 and 22 of the protocol review form; don’t forget areas for scanning and imaging. Animals taken to procedure rooms, investigators’ labs, or other buildings may remain up to 12 hours. Any time an animal leaves its normal housing room it should be in a covered cage or container. Check with the area supervisor for the appropriate covering material or container for what you need to move and where. A filter hood on an isolation cage is not considered, for this purpose, a cage cover. Using covers prevents the spread of potential pathogens to or from the animals and is considerate of people who may have animal allergies and or sensitive to animals being used for research. If the animals are allowed to return to the original facility, an alternate housing room may be assigned depending on where the animals were taken. Check with the area supervisor.

Elevators

Elevators designated for animal use should be used in those facilities where transport of animals between floors is needed. Only protocol personnel should occupy the same elevator that is transporting non-human primates between floors because of the potential spread of Tuberculosis (TB).

Elevators designated as "Clean": Used for transporting new animals just received from approved vendor, clean equipment from the cage wash room, and covered cages with animals (filter top lid and opaque material cover i.e. towel or sheet).

Elevators designated as "Dirty": Used for "Dirty" equipment going to the cage wash and uncovered cages of animals.

Public Elevators: No animals or dirty equipment should be transported in public elevators without approval from a LAR veterinarian or the LAR Occupational Health and Safety Officer.

NON-LAR MAINTAINED ANIMAL HOUSING

If you want to house animals outside of the LAR maintained animal facility for over 12 hours, there are several things that need to happen before animals can be placed there.

The reason for the alternate housing must be fully described in the animal use protocol.
The area must be inspected by the Veterinarians and the Animal Care and Use Committee.
Once approved, your staff must be trained on appropriate husbandry requirements. A trainer will contact you once you have been approved. See SMPH ACUC Policy #17.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

All PPE used in LAR facilities are provided by LAR with a few exceptions. The exceptions apply to specialty coveralls or respirators such as full-face air-filtering respirators that are for one person’s use ONLY. A limited number of PAPRs are available in some areas but currently would only be available when LAR personnel are not using them. The general rule is that if LAR husbandry or veterinary staff must wear it then LAR will provide it but only for LAR areas and not for researcher laboratories.
Signs are posted indicating required PPE that must be worn in specific areas or rooms for the protection of the animals from animal pathogens and to protect people from zoonotic diseases and biohazards; pay attention to these signs.
Good Laboratory Practices indicates that PPE such as gloves should be removed when moving about the common areas of the facility, when out in public areas, touching door knobs, elevator buttons, and telephones. Whether you are moving animals or materials, if you feel you need to wear gloves for safety then what you’re moving is not properly packaged.
Dedicated shoes should be worn in the animal facility, especially if working with or in areas that have large animals such as non-human primates or use hazardous materials. Don’t expose your family, neighbors, or community.
No open toed shoes, sandals or bare legs.
Check the room door or logbook for PPE that must be worn to enter the room and handle the animals.

Certification Dates for Safety Equipment - New

Clicking on the title above will take you to LAR's list of safety equipment currently in the various vivariums for the School of Medicine and Public Health. It only shows LAR equipment and not safety equipment that researchers may have in the area. If you need this information you can contact either the area supervisor or Randy Henschel @262-0924 or for BSC and CADs or Paula Villwock @ 3-3333 for fume hoods. Clean Air Devices, otherwise known as CADs are not to be used for administering hazardous materials such as biological agents, infectious material, hazardous drugs or chemicals, and radioactive isotopes. They are designed to protect the animal from you and you from the animal allergens ONLY.

Housing and Husbandry protocol

Research animals may be held under the Housing and Husbandry animal-use protocol; animals may be placed on the protocol for one of the following reasons:

1) When a previously approved protocol has been submitted to RARC for routing to the SMPH Animal Care and Use Committee, but due to the timing of the meetings, subsequent submissions of edited versions of the protocol for re-review, or other office administration, the protocol expires before all review and approval has been completed.

2) When the university acts as an institution to take responsibility for a group of animals previously assigned to an approved Animal Care and Use Protocol.

3) When a newly hired principle investigator needs to bring animals from another institution, but has not yet secured an approved UW-Madison Animal Use Protocol.
Animals may be maintained under the Housing and Husbandry protocol for a maximum of 90 days.
Only standard husbandry is carried out while animals are held under the Housing and Husbandry protocol: no experimental work or breeding of animals is permitted