Animal Care and Use Program
The UFV Animal Care Committee (ACC) is responsible for ensuring ethical animal practice for animals used in research, testing, or teaching projects and programs. Any research or teaching involving animals at UFV must be reviewed and approved through the ACC before animals are brought on campus and a project begins. The ACC must operate in accordance with and conform to the ACC Terms of Reference.
The ACC's program and requirements are guided and certified by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). The CCAC acts "...in the interests of the people of Canada to ensure through programs of education, assessment and persuasion that the use of animals, where necessary, for research, teaching and testing employs optimal physical and psychological care according to acceptable scientific standards, and to promote an increased level of knowledge, awareness and sensitivity to relevant ethical principles."
The CCAC's mission statement provides a model for UFV as it:
UFV holds a current CCAC Certificate of GAP – Good Animal Practice. Maintaining the GAP certificate is an ongoing process involving rigourous CCAC assessment visits every three years to evaluate, UFV's "...animal ethics and care program, the effectiveness of their animal care committee to oversee the program, and the appropriateness of their animal facilities, practices, and procedures."
UFV operates under a formal set of pedagogical merit review and scientific merit review processes based on the CCAC's Terms of Reference for Animal Care Committees.
UFV researchers and instructors must demonstrate the application of the 3Rs in every protocol through scientific or pedagogical merit review. Training is mandatory for all animal users (instructors, researchers, staff, and students).