Guidance on Activities Requiring IACUC Approval

All research, teaching, and outreach activities using live, Vertebrate animals owned by NC State. This applies to activities that occur on NC State-owned facilities and when NC State-owned animals are transported to off-campus locations.

Animals used in non-research activities, such as university-owned working animals. Pest control, protection of livestock, and public safety are considered service functions and NC State-owned animals involved in these activities do not require IACUC approval. Examples of service animals owned by NC State are the horses in the Campus Police Mounted Patrol Unit; cats for rodent control; and dogs, llamas, donkeys, etc. used as guard animals. Animals present at the IACUC inspection site, such as barn cats or dogs, for pest control or herd management purposes, must be in apparent good health with no obvious illnesses or parasite infestations. If injured or ill animals must receive timely, appropriate, and documented veterinary treatment/care. Animals must have ready documentation of a preventive health program, as evidenced by current core vaccinations and/or testing records as appropriate. Adequate food and housing for the animals must be available if in residence.

Animals euthanized with any procedures conducted or samples taken prior to euthanasia for the purpose of the research requiring the specified animal products; Collection of tissue prior to the euthanasia or natural death of animals for the sole purpose of obtaining animal tissues/products requires an IACUC approved protocol; All tissues/products derived from non-human primate species are packaged and transported in compliance with federal, state and local regulations, review source of tissue.

All slaughterhouse materials are obtained from a USDA-inspected facility; Dissection specimens not purchased through a slaughterhouse, are purchased from an approved vendor; Animal tissues/products obtained from research facilities/institutions (including NC State facilities) are acquired from animals euthanized or tissue samples taken under IACUC- approved protocols; The animal(s) from which tissues/products will be collected is being euthanized or tissues collected for clinical reasons based upon the decision of the clinical Veterinarian or his/her designee and that no procedures will be conducted or additional tissues taken prior to the euthanasia or during the euthanasia procedure for the purpose of the research requiring the specified animal products

Research, teaching, and outreach activities conducted by faculty and staff with privately-owned animals on NC State property (Examples of these types of activities include cats and dogs enrolled in an NC State clinical research study that requires physical examinations at the CVM; dogs from the Raleigh Police Canine Unit invited by an instructor for a lecture or laboratory demonstration; and cattle from a private farm used in a judging contest held at the Beef Educational Unit. Another example of this type of activity would be a research project being conducted on a commercial swine farm by an NC State faculty member that required pigs to be individually weighed at weaning when the commercial farm normally doesn’t weigh their piglets at weaning. .The guiding principle for whether IACUC approval is required for these types of activities is to ask the question “Is the only reason that the privately-owned animal is on NCSU property due to a research project, class, or some other official event at the request of faculty or staff?” If the answer is “Yes”, then IACUC approval is required.

• Activities with privately owned animals on NC State property sponsored by faculty, staff, and student organizations may or may not require IACUC approval. An IACUC Waiver form must be filled out and submitted and The organization sponsoring the event is required to complete the Major Event Registrations.
• Privately owned animals housed at the College of Veterinary Medicine for individual clinical care and treatment do not require IACUC approval.
• Activities in which a veterinarian is providing routine clinical services to a privately owned animal/herd/farm or to wild animals (including clinical services that provide education and training to DVM professional students at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, or clinical field services)

Any activities using wild animals for teaching or research in which wildlife are captured, restrained, or observed for any length of time requires IACUC approval.  Observational studies which impact animal behavior fall under this category.  The IACUC is therefore responsible for evaluating whether an activity with wild animals is not considered a field study and therefore regulated under the AWA. Field studies, as defined in Animal Welfare Act regulations (“…any study conducted on free-living wild animals in their natural habitat, which does not involve an invasive procedure, and which does not harm or materially alter the behavior of the animals under study.”)

Field studies that do not involve vertebrate animals, directly or indirectly.