Introduction

All personnel involved with the use of animals in research, teaching and testing must be adequately trained in the principles of animal care and useand the ethical issues involved in animal use. An appropriate training program is an essential component of any institutional animal care and use program. The Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) has therefore developed a National Institutional Animal User Training (NIAUT) Program that has three components. Two components of the NIAUT Program, the CCAC guidelines on: institutional animal user training and the CCAC Recommended Syllabus for an Institutional Animal User Training Program, were approved by the CCAC Council on May 5, 1999 for mandatory implementation beginning in January 2003.

These modules have been developed and produced with funding received from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

The modules were written by a team from the University of Saskatchewan, the University of British Columbia and the CCAC Secretariat. Several scientists, animal care professionals and representatives from the Canadian public and the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies have reviewed the material extensively. Various institutions across Canada conducted beta-testing of these modules.

Each module deals with a specific topic and specific goals. There are a few overlaps between modules; but modules are independent from each other so ACCs have the necessary flexibility to integrate one or more of these modules within their own institutional training program as they see fit.

Questions are listed at the end of each module to help readers focus their attention on key elements. The bank of questions and associated answers will be forwarded to ACCs upon request (ccac@ccac.ca) if they choose to use them for performance evaluations of the competency of their animal users.

Resource Materials

Materials Produced and/or Delivered by Institutions

The third component of the NIAUT Program, based on the Recommended Syllabus, consists of a list of resource materials to support the development and implementation of the core and non-core topics of an institutional training program by the animal care committee (ACC). The following chart lists the resource materials. To access a specific resource, click on its title.

Resource material on the core topics for the wildlife stream and on non-core topics covering species-specific (including farm animals) and procedure specific information is posted below as these are developed and made available to the CCAC by institutions.

• Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans: AnimalUser Training Template

  It is essential for users to understand, these training templates are meant to be used by competent trainers in trainer-trainee situations. They are not sops, and in no way do they comprise stand-alone training for persons wishing to work responsibly with fish

  - 1.0 Anatomy and Physiology of Salmonids - 2.0 Anaesthesia of Finfish - 3.0 Euthanasia of Finfish

  - 4.0 Blood Sampling of Finfish - 5.0 Length and Weight Measurement of Finfish - 6.0 Marking and Tagging of Finfish

• Aquatic Animals in Research - Atlantic Veterinary College, U.P.E.I.
   
• THE ZEBRAFISH BOOK: A guide for the laboratory use of zebrafish Danio* (Brachydanio) rerio by Monte Westerfield, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon
  

Course Descriptions

Course descriptions are posted here to facilitate sharing of resources, and as an attempt to help institutions without training courses, or with incomplete courses, to have access to institutions which can offer assistance.

Please click on the relevant link below to obtain course descriptions of the Institutional Animal User Training program of interest.

Any institution interested in having a description of their Animal User Training program posted, should contact the CCAC Secretariat. Posting course descriptions on the CCAC website will not indicate CCAC endorsement of the institutional training program. However, the posted descriptions should facilitate comparison of the topics with the Recommended Syllabus for an Institutional Animal User Training program, and should assist institutions to make informed decisions on how best to meet their training needs. It should be noted that each institution is required to provide training for all animal users under its jurisdiction; this does not mean that the institution itself must develop all components of the training course.

• Format re: Substance/scope of institutional training programs for the CCAC

DISCLAIMER

Citation of certain trade names and/or manufacturers in the text or photographs is not to be perceived as an endorsement by the CCAC of one particular product over another.

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