Provides direction for the care for vertebrate laboratory animals housed in animal laboratories in approved sites on Winthrop’s campus during emergency situations. The Plan does not include direction for the care of domestic animals brought to campus by students or employees.
Faculty and staff
Institutional Official – The individual who, as a representative of senior administration, bears ultimate responsibility for the Animal Care and Use Program (Program) and is responsible for resource planning and ensuring alignment of Program goals with the institution’s mission. (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.)
Principle Investigator – The individual overseeing a research experiment that may or may not be funded by a grant or other external funding source.
The IACUC will follow the Winthrop University (WU) Emergency Response plans and state, regional, and local guidelines for emergency management with the addition of specific procedures regarding vertebrate laboratory animals as described in this plan. While it is impossible to plan for all possible emergency scenarios, this plan specifies general procedures to be used by WU personnel to provide animal care in the most likely emergency situations.
Every effort will be made to assure animal well-being; however, in all cases human safety will take priority over animal care. For disasters requiring evacuation of animals and/or personnel, research protocols will be placed on hold and animals will receive basic subsistence care only. In the event that a disaster results in unrelieved animal suffering or a lack of food and/or water, then the animal population at risk will be euthanized. Euthanasia will be a last resort and will be conducted in accordance with established procedures. Conditions that jeopardize the health or well-being of animals, including natural disasters, accidents, and mechanical failures, resulting in actual harm or death to animals will be promptly reported to the Provost, who serves as WU’s IACUC Institutional Official.
The plan will be incorporated into the WU Emergency Response plans and posted on the IACUC website. The Compliance Coordinator in the Grants and Sponsored Research Development
(GSRD) office will provide a copy of emergency contact numbers for IACUC principle investigators (PIs) and their secondary contacts to the Winthrop University Police Department (WUPD) at the beginning of the Fall and Spring semesters.
This plan will be reviewed annually as part of the IACUC Semi-Annual Program Review and amended as necessary to reflect new threats and procedures.
The PI is responsible for the care of all animals in his/her research use, in consultation with the IACUC. The PI will identify a secondary contact to provide care for lab animals in the event the PI is unable to do so.
If a PI has animals which are especially valuable or virtually irreplaceable from a research standpoint, s/he must arrange for evacuation housing for those animals in consultation with the IACUC Chair and the Emergency Management Operations Group, Facilities Management, and/or WUPD.
The Emergency Management Operations Group, Facilities Management, and/or WUPD will make determination as to when it is safe for personnel to enter an animal facility after a disaster. PIs will be notified as appropriate.
If time permits, GSRD will notify all researchers who have protocols due to expire during an anticipated disaster down-time. Animals on protocols due to expire will be placed on general maintenance for the duration of the disaster with no experimental interventions permitted during that time.
In the case of mandatory evacuation, back-up copies of IACUC records and protocols will be saved to a flash drive or other external storage drive, removed from the campus, and taken by a GSRD staff member to a safe location.
Paper records concerning care of animals will be placed inside plastic bags in the animal rooms and moved with the animals in the event that they are relocated.
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