Animal Usage Policy
Explicit in the College’s mission are the goals of promoting animal health and alleviating animal suffering. In keeping with these goals, the College uses several programs to provide students with essential skills and interactive learning experiences. Laboratories may employ live or dead animals for teaching medical principles. These animals are treated humanely and with dignity. In all cases the rationale for appropriateness of animal use will have been reviewed and approved first by the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine Courses and Curriculum Committee and subsequently the University of Illinois Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). IACUC is made up of University of Illinois faculty representing multiple departments and disciplines plus knowledgeable lay members from outside of the university community.
Successful completion of the current DVM program requires intensive studies of the live and dead animals. In respect for students’ concerns and beliefs, students have the option of not participating in laboratories that conclude with the death or euthanasia of animals used solely for instructional purposes, and this decision will not, in itself, influence the overall course grade. In the event that a student chooses not to participate in a laboratory, the instructor will identify a suitable alternative for obtaining the knowledge and skills acquired in the laboratory. Students will be notified prior to the beginning of the semester which courses use live animals so that both student and faculty have time to identify suitable alternatives.
Policy For Animal Use in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Program
Responsibility of the Instructor
Justify the use of vertebrate animals as the preferred way to achieve learning objectives relevant to the course material. Complete IACUC Protocol Review Form “Information for Review of Activities Involving Animals”. Send the completed form to the CVM Office of Academic and Student Affairs for review and approval by the College Courses and Curriculum Committee. If the committee approves the use of vertebrate animals as the preferred way to achieve learning objectives relevant to the college curriculum, the IACUC Protocol Review Form will be forwarded to the Division of Animal Resources for review and approval. An overview of the policy for review of animal care and use protocols at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and the forms can be found at http://www.dar.uiuc.edu.
If animals will experience some degree of pain or distress, or death, the instructor must conduct a search of alternatives (as per item 15 on IACUC Protocol Review Form). Alternatives refer to methods or approaches which result in refinement of procedures which lessen pain and/or distress; reduction in numbers of animals required; or replacement of animals with non-whole-animal systems or replacement of one animal species with another, particularly if the substituted species is non-mammalian or invertebrate. Guidelines for searches for alternatives to animal use can be found at http://www.dar.uiuc.edu/.
The instructor will provide alternatives that may be substituted for animal experiences for those students seeking alternatives.
The instructor will make the course syllabus available before the early registration period and in sufficient detail so that students understand the methods and objectives of animal use during the course and, if they so desire, have sufficient time to arrange for an alternative to animal use in collaboration with the instructor.
Responsibilities of the Student
Students are not required to participate in demonstrations or invasive procedures performed solely for instructional purposes which conclude with the death or euthanasia of the animal.
Students will be notified prior to early registration of those courses which use live animals and they must then decide on their participation in the laboratories or their alternatives.
Students desiring an alternative laboratory experience will notify the Office of Academic and Student Affairs before the end of the two-week registration period.
Students desiring an alternative laboratory experience will work with the instructor to complete a suitable alternative to the planned animal use that will permit the student to achieve a level of understanding of the material accepted to the instructor.
Responsibilities of the College
Approved IACUC animal use forms will be forwarded by the Office of Academic and Student Affairs to the campus Division of Animal Resources for subsequent review and approval.
Students will be notified prior to early registration of those courses which use live animals by the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. A list of students participating in the live animal laboratories or their alternatives will be compiled and provided to the course instructor(s) at this time.
The Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs will mediate cases where an instructor and student cannot agree on a suitable alternative.
Questions should be addressed to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs here at the College.
The Animal Usage Policy and the Policy for Animal Use in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Program were approved by Faculty on February 8, 2000.