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Animal Procurement at Western
According to the Animal Procurement Policy, all animal orders must be placed through the facility manager or Animal Care and Veterinary Services (ACVS) unless prior approval has been obtained from the Animal Care Committee. Facility managers are permitted to order only those animals that will be housed in their respective facilities. Each facility will provide guidelines for animal ordering and establish deadlines for the procurement of standard rodent strains, ensuring their arrival the following week. The information provided below pertains specifically to Western Research-managed facilities.
Suppliers
Only animals ordered from standard suppliers are immediately approved by facility staff. Orders for animals from non-approved suppliers require more lead time to process. Information on animal health status is required from the vendor for facility approval. In addition, non-standard source animals usually undergo quarantine and health testing prior to release to area of choice within the animal facility.
Surcharges may apply for orders that require additional time in sourcing, obtaining records and testing.
Procurement Types
Please note that animals transferred into managed-facilities from other facilities is considered an import, and must be captured through esirius.
The primary research technician responsible for the care of the animals requested within the form is required to have the following:
- ACC Authorization: the primary research technician responsible for animal care must be added to the protocol via an AUP modification prior to an animal requisition request.
- Facility Access & Related Training: the primary research technician responsible for animal care must have active facility access and adequate facility training.
Commercial Animal Suppliers
Rodent Shipment Schedules
- Tuesday morning: Charles River
- Wednesday afternoon: Jackson Labs and Taconic; Harlan (or upon request)
Form Submission Method & Deadline
All requisition forms must be submitted electronically to eSirius3G by 11:59 p.m. on Mondays, including holiday Mondays. Submissions made prior to Monday are also welcome. Upon receipt, orders will be processed and delivery scheduled for the following week, contingent upon vendor availability. Orders submitted after the deadline will be processed the following week. Confirmation will be sent upon processing. If a confirmation email is not received by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, please reach out to acvs@uwo.ca. Western Research disclaims any responsibility for issues related to Western server outages.
Late Orders
We understand that urgent situations may occasionally arise, requiring special orders. In such cases, an administrative service fee will be applied in addition to the standard charges to account for the extra time required to amend facility orders and include late animal submissions. For further details regarding this fee, please refer to Pricing and Services.
Form Content
Orders will only be placed if they can be fulfilled as requested. If discrepancies arise, the Requestor will be contacted, and if unreachable, the order will not be processed.
- Only protocols that are currently active and have remaining authorized animal numbers are eligible to place orders.
- The number of animals ordered must not exceed the quantity approved in the protocol.
- The 'Do Not Unpack' housing option is permitted exclusively for:
- Acute studies.
- Chronic studies that have obtained ACC pre-approval for exemption from the SOP310 requirement, which mandates a 72-hour holding period prior to animal use.
- If ACC approval status is unclear, please contact the ACC office for guidance.
Health Status
Animal shipments may be refused based on current health status. Investigators will be contacted for alternate arrangements.
Arrival Information & Processes
You must inform acvs@uwo.ca within the first 24 hours following the arrival of your animals if there are any potential issues or discrepancies with your order (i.e., weight, age, possible illness). The vendors will not issue credits, if deemed necessary, outside of this time frame.
Schedules
Contact the Animal Ordering Office to request arrival schedules and confirmation, or view the ACVS Main Office (M510 or WV 101) bulletin boards for Delivery Schedule details.
Holding Period
SOP CLN-310 states that for chronic studies, "Animals arriving at any of the animal facilities in London are required to undergo a 72 hour Holding Period to allow them to acclimatize to the stresses of transportation and to adjust to a new environment. During this period no experimental procedures may be performed."
Exempted animals are those immediately euthanized for tissues and not held in an animal housing facility, and protocols for which ACC permission for deviation from the SOP has been provided.
All animals that do not come from commercial stock via standard lab suppliers are considered “Non-Commercial Orders”. For non-commercial orders, use the eSirius3G website.
There are two types of non-commercial sources:
- Citywide Non-Commercial Sources: Facilities or protocols affiliated with Western involving ACC-authorized protocols, e.g., a different ACC-approved protocol.
- External Sources: Animal transfers to Western facilities from an institution not affiliated with Western and not having ACC-authorized protocols, e.g., from the University of Kentucky.
All sources (commercial and non) must be approved on the animal use protocol prior to animals being ordered.
The primary research technician responsible for care of the animals requested is required to have the following:
- ACC Authorization: the primary research technician responsible for animal care must be added to the protocol via an AUP modification submission prior to submitting animal requisition request.
- Facility Access & Related Training: the primary research technician responsible for animal care must have active facility access and adequate facility training.
Contact Us
For more information on animal procurement, contact acvs@uwo.ca.