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Animal Health Concerns

Animal facility staff and researchers are required to report disease conditions within the colony. Because many of these conditions involve animals with either tumors or respiratory problems, symptoms which certainly affect the usefulness of the animals for research, the facility supervisor should be notified as soon as possible. In order to resolve such situations in a timely manner, the following steps should be taken whenever disease conditions are thought to be present:

1) When a facility staff member or student researcher finds a health problem, it should be recorded on the Health Report Form found in the magnetic file holder on the door of 165C. They then should place a blue sticker, also found in the file holder on the sick animal's cage label to indicate its status.

2) The facility supervisor will make rounds at least once a day and will respond to anything recorded on the Health Report . If he/she feels it necessary, he/she will try to contact the researcher by phone. If that fails, a memo will be sent to the researcher informing them of the problem.

3) The facility supervisor will then note on the Health Report what action has been taken up to that point. If the researcher has not responded by the following afternoon, it will be at the supervisor's discretion what to do with the animal, including euthanasia.

Last updated: 01/09/2003
Send comments and questions to: mensink@macalester.edu