
Animal Welfare Challenges in Research and Education on Wildlife, Non-Model Animal Species and Biodiversity
______
Teresa J. Sylvina, Rapporteur
Institute for Laboratory Animal Research
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Proceedings of a Workshop
NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. IOS-2135081. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This project was funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN26320180029I (75N98021F00011); U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Animal Care under Grant No. AP21AC000000G004; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Research under Contract No. 36C24E20R0038; and U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats under Grant No. R13FD006967. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-69015-7
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-69015-3
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/26614
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Animal Welfare Challenges in Research and Education on Wildlife, Non-Model Animal Species and Biodiversity: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26614.
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WORKSHOP PLANNING COMMITTEE ON DISCUSSING AND UNDERSTANDING ANIMAL WELFARE CHALLENGES IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ON WILDLIFE, NON-MODEL ANIMAL SPECIES AND BIODIVERSITY
ANNE MAGLIA (Co-Chair), University of Massachusetts Lowell
ROBERT S. SIKES (Co-Chair), University of Arkansas at Little Rock
BONNIE V. BEAVER, Texas A&M University
LAURA BIES, The Ornithological Council
CAROL L. CLARKE, U.S. Department of Agriculture
GAIL C. GOLAB, American Veterinary Medical Association
WILLIAM GREER, University of Michigan
ELAINE K. KIM, Colorado State University
PATRICE N. KLEIN, U.S. Department of Agriculture
SHARON SHRIVER, Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research
MICHAEL K. STOSKOPF, North Carolina State University
Workshop Staff1,2
TERESA J. SYLVINA, Director, Strategic Initiatives on Animal Research; Director, Institute for Laboratory Animal Research and Roundtable on Science and Welfare in Laboratory Animal Use; Director, Collaborating Centre World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; OIE1)
CORRINE LUTZ, Senior Program Officer (until July 2022)
SUSANA RODRIGUEZ, Program Officer (as of September 2022)
JEANNE AQUILINO, Finance Business Partner
KYLE CAVAGNINI, Associate Program Officer (as of April 2022)
ANGELA (ELLA) BLUE, Senior Program Assistant
RENEE DALY, Program Assistant (as of May 2022)
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1 Collaborating Centre, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; originally established as OIE).
2 Consistent with broadening its scope to include wildlife, non-model animal species and biodiversity, ILAR will be known as the Board on Animal Health Sciences, Conservation, and Research (BAHSCR).
ROUNDTABLE ON SCIENCE AND WELFARE IN LABORATORY ANIMAL USE
BONNIE V. BEAVER (Chair), Texas A&M University
JOSEPH T. NEWSOME (Vice-Chair), University of Pittsburgh
JILL ASCHER (Past Chair), National Institutes of Health
SZCZEPAN BARAN, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Inc.
CAROL L. CLARKE, U.S. Department of Agriculture
JOYCE COHEN, National Primate Research Centers, Yerkes Primate Center
NANCY DANIELS, Indiana University School of Medicine
ROBERT C. DYSKO, University of Michigan
JAMES G. FOX, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
JIM GNADT, National Institutes of Health
GAIL C. GOLAB, American Veterinary Medical Association
NEERA V. GOPEE, National Institutes of Health
DEB HICKMAN, Purdue University
LAWANDA HOLLAND, Janssen, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson
MICHAEL HUERKAMP, Emory University
RICH KRAUZLIS, National Institutes of Health
DAVID M. KURTZ, National Institutes of Health
GEORGE LATHROP, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
MALCOLM MARTIN, National Institutes of Health
LORI S. PALLEY, Massachusetts General Hospital
PATRICIA PREISIG, Yale University
BARRY RICHMOND, National Institutes of Health
BRIANNA L. SKINNER, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
EDDA (FLOH) THIELS, National Science Foundation
SALLY THOMPSON-IRITANI, University of Washington
JOSEPH THULIN, Medical College of Wisconsin
PATRICIA V. TURNER, Charles River Laboratories
CHRISTINA WINNICKER, GlaxoSmithKline
ROBERT H. WURTZ (NAS, NAM), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
STANDING COMMITTEE FOR THE CARE AND USE OF ANIMALS IN RESEARCH
JAMES G. FOX (Co-Chair), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
SUE VANDEWOUDE (Co-Chair), Colorado State University
WILLIAM W. BOWERMAN IV, University of Maryland, College Park
DOUGLAS L. BRINING, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston
KELLY RICE DECKER, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
JEFFREY EVERITT, Duke University
MICHAEL E. GOLDBERG, Columbia University
SUSAN B. HARPER, U.S. Department of Agriculture
RICHARD NAKAMURA, National Institutes of Health (Retired)
NATHANIEL POWELL, JR., U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
ROBERT S. SIKES, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
JEROLD TANNEBAUM, University of California, Davis (Professor Emeritus)
KATHERINE THIBAULT, National Ecological Observatory Network, Battelle
INSTITUTE FOR LABORATORY ANIMAL RESEARCH1,2
Council Members
ROBERT C. DYSKO (Chair), University of Michigan
CORY BRAYTON (Ex Officio Member), Johns Hopkins University
SONNET S. JONKER, Oregon Health & Science University
ANNE MAGLIA, University of Massachusetts Lowell
SUZAN MURRAY, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
BARBARA J. NATTERSON-HOROWITZ, University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard Medical School
GUY H. PALMER (NAM), Washington State University
CHRISTINE A. PETERSEN, University of Iowa
ROSALIND ROLLAND, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, New England Aquarium (Emeritus)
CAROLINE ZEISS, Yale School of Medicine
Staff1,2
TERESA J. SYLVINA, Director, Strategic Initiatives on Animal Research; Director, ILAR; Director, Roundtable on Science and Welfare in Laboratory Animal Use; Director, Collaborating Centre World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; OIE1)
SUSANA RODRIGUEZ, Program Officer (as of September 2022)
JEANNE AQUILINO, Finance Business Partner
KYLE CAVAGNINI, Associate Program Officer
ANGELA (ELLA) BLUE, Senior Program Assistant
RENEE DALY, Program Assistant
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1 Collaborating Centre, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; originally established as OIE).
2 Consistent with broadening its scope to include wildlife, non-model animal species and biodiversity, ILAR will be known as the Board on Animal Health Sciences, Conservation, and Research (BAHSCR).
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Reviewers
This Proceedings of a Workshop was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings:
ANNA C. FAGRE, Bat Health Foundation
PATRICE N. KLEIN, U.S. Department of Agriculture
STEPHEN RAVERTY, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Animal Health Center, British Columbia
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the proceedings nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by STEPHEN W. BARTHOLD, University of California, Davis (Professor Emeritus). He was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the rapporteur and the National Academies.
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Acknowledgments
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the workshop planning committee co-chairs, Anne Maglia and Robert Sikes, for their outstanding contributions to the development and orchestration of this workshop. ILAR also acknowledges and thanks all of the members of the workshop planning committee, who collaborated to ensure a workshop with targeted session objectives replete with informative presentations and moderated rich discussions, and the many workshop speakers who generously shared their expertise and time. ILAR is grateful to the members of the ILAR Roundtable on Science and Welfare in Laboratory Animal Use, the ILAR Standing Committee for the Care and Use of Animal in Research, and the ILAR Council. ILAR expresses its sincere thanks to Joe Newsome and Sally Thompson-Iritani for consulting and subject-matter expertise on the early draft of the workshop proceedings. In addition, ILAR acknowledges and extends its gratitude to ILAR Council Member Christine A. Petersen, University of Iowa, and Standing Committee and workshop planning committee member Robert Sikes, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, for their comments on an early draft of the proceedings; and to Anne Frances Johnson for her early draft of the proceedings. Gratitude also goes to ILAR staff: Susana Rodriguez, Jeanne Aquilino, Kyle Cavagnini, Angela (Ella) Blue, and Renee Daly, who contributed to preparing the final draft of the proceedings. Finally, ILAR expresses tremendous gratitude for the strong support of its workshop sponsors, without which it could not have undertaken this project, particularly the National Science Foundation’s Division of Integrative Organismal Systems along with funding from the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service–Animal Care, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Research and Development, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats.
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In Memory of
Dr. Tracy Thompson
Tracy Thompson, D.V.M., was a noted expert on research involving wildlife species. She graduated from the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1997. After graduation, she had an amazing career. During the first stage of her career, she worked at several zoos in the Pacific Northwest and Western United States where she focused on improving animal habitats by focusing on the provision of naturalistic environments to foster animal welfare.
From zoo work, her career took her to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) where she served as a veterinary medical officer, primarily in Colorado. She was a frequent speaker at USDA-sponsored educational events throughout the country.
The last part of her career brought her to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service (NPS) as its second attending veterinarian. In that position, she managed wildlife studies conducted by the federal government. She also managed NPS’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and became a substantial contributor to the Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Conferences and a faculty member for the Interagency Collaborative Animal Research Education Project.
Tracy is survived by her wonderful husband Kevin Thompson. She was a devoted wife and pet mom, as well as an avid outdoorswoman. She was also a fantastic friend who was incredibly supportive, and those who knew her will miss her dearly.
This modified tribute piece was originally written on a social media platform by Stacy Pritt, D.V.M., M.S., M.B.A., CPIA, CHRC, ECoP (EAR), DACAW, and republished with permission.
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Contents
Introduction to Wildlife Research Challenges and Animal Welfare
National Science Foundation Perspective
U.S. Department of Agriculture Perspective
National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare Perspective
AAALAC International Perspective: Wildlife Studies: Beyond the Three Primary Standards
SESSION TWO (PART 1): REVIEW OF THE LAWS, REGULATIONS, AND PERMITS ASSOCIATED WITH FISH AND WILDLIFE
Challenges from the National Park Service Perspective
Research on Tribal Lands: Unique Examples
SESSION TWO (PART 2): CASE STUDIES AND EXAMPLES
Unique Challenges When Working with Free-Ranging Wildlife: Hummingbirds as a Case Study
Conducting Biodiversity Surveys in the New Age of Wildlife Discovery
Field Research Involving Reptiles and Amphibians, Remote Study Sites, and Undergraduate Students
SESSION THREE: WILD ANIMAL POPULATION CONCERNS
Challenges of High-Risk Fieldwork and Working with Venomous and Hazardous Species for IACUCs
Standards of Practice Facilitate Research and Management of White-Nose Syndrome in Bats
Session Three Synthesis: Wild Animal Population Concerns
Extra-Label Drug Use in Free-Ranging Wildlife: Rules, Regulations, and Reality
Challenges in the Capture and Handling of Wild Birds in Research
Capture and Handling of Free-Living Wild Small Mammals for Research and Education
SESSION FIVE: ROLE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE IN WILDLIFE RESEARCH
The Wildlife Veterinarian’s Role in Championing Animal Welfare Programs and Policies
SESSION SIX: PAIN AND DISTRESS, EUTHANASIA, HUMANE KILLING, AND LETHAL TAKE
AVMA Perspective on Ending the Lives of Wildlife Species
Challenges in the Humane Killing of Wild Birds as Museum Vouchers Supporting Biodiversity Research
Context-Dependent Challenges and Decisions for the Humane Killing of Wild Small Mammals
Challenges in Following Euthanasia Guidelines in Marine Fisheries Sampling
SESSION SEVEN: TRANSITION OF WILD ANIMALS TO CAPTIVE SETTINGS AND HOUSING CHALLENGES
Establishing Captive Populations of Wild Animals: Communicating with Your IACUC
Challenges of Wildlife Adjusting to Captivity: Negotiating with the IACUC
SESSION EIGHT: AVAILABLE TAKE-HOME RESOURCES
Session Five Synthesis: Role of Veterinary Medicine in Wildlife Research
Session Six Synthesis: Pain and Distress, Euthanasia, Humane Killing, and Lethal Take
Session Seven Synthesis: Transition of Wild Animals to Captive Settings and Housing Challenges
Session Eight Synthesis: Available Take-Home Resources
E WORKSHOP SYNTHESIS SESSION MODERATOR BIOSKETCHES
BOXES, FIGURES, AND TABLE
BOXES
1-1AAALAC-Identified Clarifications, Caveats, and Exceptions to Reference Resources
2-1Statement from the Cultural Institutional Review Board of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
3-1Risk Mitigation: Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Diseases
5-2Field Surgeries Conducted on Wild Animals
7-1Keeping Wild Bats in Captivity for Research and Teaching
7-2Compliance Challenges with Wild Bats in Captivity
FIGURES
1-1Examples of activities that are exempt and regulated under the Animal Welfare Act regulations
7-1Weight change as a function of captivity duration is highly species-specific in wild animals
TABLE
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Acronyms and Abbreviations
AAALAC | AAALAC International |
AALAS | American Association for Laboratory Animal Science |
ABSL-3 | Animal Biosafety Level 3 |
ACLAM | American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine |
ACUC | Animal Care and Use Committee |
AMDUCA | Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act |
APHIS | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service |
ASIH | American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists |
ASM | American Society of Mammalogists |
ATV | all-terrain vehicle |
AUP | animal use protocol |
AV | attending veterinarian |
AVMA | American Veterinary Medical Association |
AVMA Euthanasia Guidelines | AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals |
AWA | Animal Welfare Act |
AWAR | Animal Welfare Act Regulations |
AZA | American Zoological Association |
Bd | Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis |
BIA | Bureau of Indian Affairs |
BLM | Bureau of Land Management |
Bsal | Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans |
BSL-2 | Biosafety Level 2 |
CDC | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
CITES | Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora |
CRO | contract research organization |
CSA | Controlled Substances Act |
CWD | chronic wasting disease |
DDT | dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane |
DEA | Drug Enforcement Administration |
DOC | U.S. Department of Commerce |
DOI | U.S. Department of the Interior |
EBCI | Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians |
EEG | electroencephalogram |
EHS | environmental health and safety |
ELDU | extra-label drug use |
EMS | emergency medical services |
ESA | Endangered Species Act of 1973 |
FAO | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |
FARAD | Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (a component of the Food Animal Residue Avoidance and Depletion Program) |
FDA | U.S. Food and Drug Administration |
FWS | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |
Guide | Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (latest revision 2011) |
HEPA | high efficiency particulate air |
HREA | Health Research Extension Act of 1985, Public Law 99-158, Animals in Research |
IACUC | Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee |
IDFG | Idaho Department of Fish and Game |
INAD | Investigational New Animal Drug |
IRB | Institutional Review Board |
IUCN | International Union for Conservation of Nature |
MS-222 | tricaine methanesulfonate |
MWT | meat withdrawal time |
NEON | National Ecological Observatory Network, Battelle |
NEPA | National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 |
NIH | National Institutes of Health |
NIOSH | National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health |
NMFS | National Marine Fisheries Service |
NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
NPS | National Park Service |
NSF | National Science Foundation |
OIE | Office International des Epizooties (renamed in May 2003 to the World Organisation for Animal Health) |
OLAW | Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare |
OSH | occupational safety and health |
OTC | over the counter |
Pd | Pseudogymnoascus destructans |
PHS | U.S. Public Health Service |
PHS policy | U.S. Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use (latest revision 2015) |
PI | principal investigator |
PPE | personal protective equipment |
PVC | polyvinyl chloride |
RCC | rapid cardiac compression |
SCAW | Scientists Center for Animal Welfare |
SOP | standard operating procedure |
UC | University of California |
UCF | University of Central Florida |
UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme |
USDA | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
USGS | U.S. Geological Survey |
VCPR | veterinarian–client–patient relationship |
WAUA | wildlife animal use activity |
WHO | World Health Organization |
WOAH | World Organisation for Animal Health (formerly OIE) |
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