E13 - [IN-PERSON/RECORDED] The Role of the IACUC in the Context of Wildlife Rehabilitation

This session will be offered in-person and recorded for on-demand access by in-person PRIMR23 attendees registered for this day, and PRIMR23/SBER23 Virtual Meeting registrants.

IACUCs form the legal, ethical, moral, and professional foundation of oversight involving nonhuman animal use activities in the United States. Since the passage of the Animal Welfare Act and its Regulations (AWAR) in 1966, this has traditionally been the case for academic institutions, federal agencies, private industry, and state agencies. Concerning wildlife animal use activities, however, whether academic, federal, private, or state entities, an appropriate, consistent, comprehensive, and formally established interpretation of the role of the IACUC remains in development. Moreover, the complexities of this issue likewise extend to any potential role for an IACUC in the realm of wildlife rehabilitation. There are, however, notable benefits to the installation of an IACUC in a wildlife rehabilitation setting: 1) Wildlife rehabilitation centers often function as de facto gatekeepers of disease surveillance in free-range species, thus positioning them in excellent condition to pursue disease research; 2) Wildlife rehabilitation centers often collaborate/overlap with state, federal, and academic entities (among others) in the course of operations--a condition that often results in a sort of professional multilingualism, which has the potential to allow wildlife rehabilitation centers to function as a nexus of multi-agency collaborative efforts; and 3) Programs of veterinary care at wildlife rehabilitation centers are often unique to the demands of the discipline, and thus have the potential to greatly expand and inform nonhuman animal care and use techniques across the veterinary research field, especially concerning wildlife. Moreover, wildlife rehabilitation facilities typically engage in, as standard practice, the three main qualifying tenets of nonhuman animal welfare compliance and oversight; specifically research, teaching, and exhibition. This session will present each of these benefits as goals toward generating greater understanding and appreciation for the role of the IACUC in facilitating compliance and oversight in the context of wildlife rehabilitation.