Policies & Guidelines

Below are individual documents outlining the University of South Alabama’s policies, procedures, and guidelines associated with the care and use of animals.

Policies

• Animal Welfare Policy Statement
• Adverse Events
• Agricultural Animals
• Bites and Scratches
• Care and Use of Animals
• CD Addenda
• Commercial Tissues
• Controlled and Uncontrolled Substances
• Dog and Cat Source
• Domestic and Foreign Subcontracts
• Domestic and Foreign Subcontract Process
• Drug Dilution and Anesthetic Mixtures
• Embryonated Eggs
• Field Study Guidelines
• Research With Free-Living Wild Animals in Their Natural Habitat and the Animal Welfare Act
• IACUC Review and Approval of Amendments
• Laboratory Animal Adoption
• Outside Sources for Animal Samples
• Policy on Non-pharmaceutical Drugs
• Protocol Follow-up Response Guidelines
• Rodent Survival Surgery

Practices

• Animal Biosafety (ABSL-2) Guidelines
• AVMA Euthanasia Guidelines
• IACUC Euthanasia of Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, and Swine
• Mouse and Rat Tail Biopsy
• NIH Blood Collection in Mice and Rats
• NIH Endpoints in Animal Study Proposals
• NIH Euthanasia of Rodents Using Carbon Dioxide
• NIH Neonate Euthanasia Guidance
• NIH Rodent Injection Guidance
• Rodent Tumor and Cancer Models Guidance

University Biological Resources

The Department of Comparative Medicine provides professional veterinary and technical support to investigators using animals in biomedical research at the University of South Alabama. DCM is an AAALAC International-accredited program that oversees institutional compliance with animal welfare policies and standards. The department provides consultation and collaboration with research personnel to assist in protocol and project planning, model development, and rodent breeding colony management. Supported within the department are high-resolution, large and small animal ultrasound units, an aseptic surgery suite, a surgical skills laboratory, and a facility to evaluate the effects of hypoxia. A variety of diagnostic laboratory services are also available within the department.

• Animal Requisition Policy
• Fee Schedule
• General Guidelines for working with DCM
• LD50 Monitoring
• Technical Request Form
• Pharmaceutical Mouse
• Pharmaceutical Rat
• Kent Scientific SomnoFlo User Guide
• Breeding Strategies for Mice

Breeding Software Program: Conditional Allele Mouse Planner (CAMP)

Conditional Allele Mouse Planner (CAMP) is a software program to help scientists set up a breeding strategy and calculate the costs of generating mice with conditional alleles. The software was created at the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and published in Transgenic Res. ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21870117/ ) 2011 August 26 [Epub ahead of print]. To access the free application, go to https://hpcwebapps.cit.nih.gov/CAMP/.