The orle of NVS as Animal Welfare Advocate Flashcards
What ae the 3 Rs?
Replacement:
*by non-animal alternatives
*by less sentient animals
Reduction of numbers used
*by good experimental design
*by using the right species/strain
Refinement:
*by avoiding suffering
*by good husbandry
*by understanding what an animal need
What is the role & structure fo AWERB?
Promote awareness of animal welfare and the 3Rs
Forum of discussion of ethical advice: animal welfare, care and use
Support named persons (including NVS) on animal welfare, ethical issues
Promote a ‘culture of care’ within the establishmen
What is the role of NVs in AWERB?
Science/biology background
Expertise in animal models, animal care and health, husbandry
Appropriate humane endpoints (HEP)
Recognition of adverse effects, alleviation or avoidance of pain and distress
Knowledge of best practice of technical procedures
Interface between technical staff, PIL/PPL holders and AWER
What is the role of NVs in REDUCTION?
- Standirdisation of animals: genetics, environment, nutrition, microbiological status
- Inefficient breeding and colony management
- Consider genetic drift and genetic monitoring
NVS Role in REFINEMENT?
Refinement of procedures
Welfare assessment of GA animals
Design and implementation of scoring sheets
Educate on:
- when could pain and distress occur?
- how we detect or assess pain and distress?
- what can we do to reduce pain and distress
Why do we need to recognise pain?
- TO minimise causes of poor welfare and refine our procedures
- Moral obligation to animals as sentient beings
- Validate analgesic regime
-Avoid mortality - To decide if animal needs to be euthanised
- To recognise cumulative severity
What is cumulatiev severity?
- Sensitisation to repeated procedures - suffering associated with each event inc
- Not sufficient recovery time between stressful events
How can we reduce cumulative severity?
-Training/habituating animals to repeated procedures with positive reinforcement
-Consider lifetime experiences at the project planning stage….. Determine indicators of suffering
-Review of records of observations during and after procedures
What general causes of pain, suffering and stress?
Caging system
Environmental
DiseaseInjury
Ageing
Procedures
What issues arise with rodent surgical procedures ?
Small size: higher risks, microsurgery, difficult access to blood vessels
Knowledge and skills of scientist (working alone, human surgeon)
Poor anaesthetic management: hypothermia, hypoxia, hypercapnia, overdose
Poor aseptic/surgical techniquesInadequate facilities
Batch procedure/surgery
How does NVS train individual researchers?
-Advice on perioperative plan (husbandry, analgesia)-Supervising practice on cadavers-Selection and appropriate use of instruments-Supervising in vivo procedures-Assessment of competence
What is the definition of humane endpoint?
‘ The earliest indicator in an animal experiment of potential pain and/or distress that, within the context of moral justification and scientific endpoints to be met, can be used to avoid or limit pain and/or distress by taking actions such as humane killing or terminating or alleviating the pain and distress’ Hendriksen & Morton, 1999.
What do welfare scorign systems do?
Allow quantitative assessment of pain, suffering, distress and lasting har
When to adjuct welfare scoring?
- add/change signs to be monitored
-weighing given to signs: rate vs absolute change - add/change intervention points
What objective measures are used in Welfare scoring systems?
- BW, growth rate, BCs
- body T
- Activity / bhvr
- Appearance, secretions /discharge
- Specific to the model: tumour size
What issues with welfare scoring systems?
- Practicality of pains coring? (large numbers of naimalsn different procedures= diff bhvrs & side effects of drugs
- Are we assessing emotional component of pain ?
Solutions to problems?
Better experimental planning: batches
Use long lasting analgesics/administer with food or water (assess intake)
Employ more staff
