Background

Both the Public Health Service (PHS) Policy and the Animal Welfare Act Regulations (AWAR) require that IACUC protocols specify and include a rationale for the number of animals used. In addition, AAALAC International expects institutions to provide numbers for all vertebrate species at the time of annual report. These implicitly require that institutions establish mechanisms to document and monitor numbers of animals acquired and used, including any animals purchased, born, captured, or euthanized.

IACUC Policy

The source of all live animals used for research, teaching, or testing must be identified in the approved IACUC protocol. 

Division of Laboratory Animal Resources (DLAR) DLAR-sourced Animals

DLAR will procure animals from commercial sources, whenever available, ensuring that animals are acquired from pre-qualified vendors, and will track animal numbers by species and protocol at the time of ordering.

Non-Commercial Sources

1. In-house breeding colonies:
   • Rodents (e.g., mice, rats): All rodents born in-house must be counted (including those culled or found dead prior to weaning) and will be deducted from IACUC protocols. Depending on the expectations between the PI and DLAR, either the investigator, the laboratory staff, or DLAR staff must record the number of pups born on the DLAR "Bred/Wean" form. This includes rodents housed outside of the DLAR vivarium.
   • Other Mammals (e.g., rabbits): All mammals born in-house must be counted (including those culled or found dead prior to weaning) and will be deducted from IACUC protocols. Depending on the expectations between the PI and DLAR, either the investigator, the laboratory staff, or DLAR staff must record the number of young born on the DLAR "Bred/Wean" form. 
   • Aquatics (e.g., zebrafish): 
     1. Investigators are to perform a quarterly census based on animals >3 days post fertilization. One mechanism to perform the census is to take inventory of tanks by size, then estimate tank density for each size tank; each sized tank in the colony then is counted monthly and the estimated fish density per tank size multiplied by the number of tanks of that size to yield the census. The mechanism used to perform the census will be documented in the laboratory's SOP.
     2. Also on a quarterly basis, aquatic investigators are to provide to the IACUC Office the number of animals >3 days post fertilization bred or used in the prior quarter that have reached >3 days post hatching. These numbers must be reported by protocol.
2. Wild-caught animals:
   • On a quarterly basis, investigators are to tally and report to the IACUC Office the number of wild-caught animals and those studied in the field. For USDA-regulated species, numbers should be reported by USDA pain and use category.
3. Non-traditional commercial sources:
   • Investigators that obtain animals directly from non-traditional commercial sources (not through DLAR procurement process) are to document and report to IACUC Office the number of animals received upon their arrival at the research facility.

Approved: April 2023