IACUC Newsletter, January 1997

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

January 1997

News and Views

"I'm a field biologist. Must I submit my protocol to IACUC review?"

Federal regulations and guidelines dealing with animal welfare focus most sharply on biomedical and behavioral research, teaching, and testing that takes place in the laboratory. Yet, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) must ensure that ALL PROJECTS involving the use of vertebrate animals comply with federal regulations and guidelines. So the question is asked, "Where do "field studies" fit in the regulatory puzzle?"

Deer picture The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations explicitly define the term "field study" and specifically exempts such activity from IACUC review (2.31(d)).

"Field study means any study conducted on free-living wild animals in their natural habitat, which does not involve invasive procedure, and which does not harm or materially alter the behavior of the animals under study (1.1 Definitions)."

If a proposed field study satisfies the USDA definition, and if the USDA were the only federal agency to whom NDSU's IACUC were answerable, then such a study would be exempt from IACUC review. However, field studies often can not satisfy the USDA definition, and the NDSU IACUC is also answerable to Public Health Service (PHS) guidelines.

Field Studies Satisfying the USDA Definition

Field studies that satisfy the USDA definition are not exempt from NDSU IACUC review since our institutional assurance is to the PHS. The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (p. 5) states that

"Zoonoses and occupational health and safety issues should be reviewed by the IACUC to ensure that field studies do not compromise the health and safety of other animals or persons working in the field."

Therefore field studies exempted by USDA regulations must be reviewed by the NDSU IACUC in order for comply with our institutional PHS assurance. The focus of the review would be those issues mentioned in the text quoted above. The IACUC is currently in the process of compiling training resources to assist investigators in addressing these issues.

Field Studies NOT Satisfying the USDA Definition

Field studies that involve the capture and immobilization or killing of free-living wild animals do not satisfy the USDA definition of exempt activities. IACUC review of such studies would be necessary and would focus on, but not necessarily be restricted to, such issues as:

number of animals to be utilized in the study, and the stability of the population from which the animals are to be taken,
the appropriateness of the methods used for capturing, immobilization and euthanizing the animals, and
the training and supervision of the personnel involved with the study.

Researchers who are planning field studies might benefit by consulting one or more of the following references.

Acceptable Field Methods in Mammalogy: Preliminary guidelines approved by the American Society of Mammalogists. (Journal of Mammalogy 68(4, Suppl.): 1-18, 1987)

Report of Committee on the Use of Wild Birds in Research. American Ornithologist's Union. (Auk 105(1, Suppl.): 1A-41A, 1988)

Mills, J.N., Childs, J. E., Ksiazek, T.G. and Peters, C.J. Methods for Trapping and Sampling Small Mammals for Virologic Testing. (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, September 1995)

If you are in the process of developing a research proposal involving the use of vertebrate animals, the IACUC is anxious to help in any way it can.

E-mail to IACUC
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
North Dakota State University
Room 201, Old Main
Fargo, ND 58105-5790
(701) 231-7035

Last Updated: Thursday, January 17, 1997