Resources to Safeguard, Promote Responsible Animal Care & Use

As your partners and colleagues in the conduct of responsible research, the entire Animal Care & Use (ACU) Program team, along with our many cross-campus collaborators, place the utmost importance on ensuring animal welfare, maintaining programmatic compliance, and communicating about the important role that animals play in scientific discoveries to benefit both human and animal health.

We have many tools and resources available internally to the U-M research community to help safeguard and promote the responsible care and use of animals in research.

Resources of note include:

• What You Should Know About Reporting and Investigating Animal Welfare Concerns – This quick reference sheet includes information about the many ways suspected incidents of noncompliance can be reported, how allegations and reports are assessed within the ACU Program, details about the inquiry/investigation process, and the myriad protections in place to protect the identity of anyone making an anonymous report.
• IACUC Self-Guided Evaluation of Animal Activities & Protocol Content Form – An assessment form containing an easy-to-follow methodology for performing a self-guided evaluation of your protocol content, including the details of all animal activities. This evaluation is designed to ensure that animal activities are being conducted in accordance with the IACUC approved protocol, verify that all personnel are knowledgeable of the animal activities as described in the protocol, and reiterate that the conduct of animal activities without prior IACUC approval is considered noncompliance.
• Guidance on Communicating About Animal Research – In addition to helping with responses to media inquiries, our communications teams can also provide guidance on content creation (stories, images, videos, social media posts) about research involving animals. If you receive a media inquiry about your research and/or your work involving animals, you are strongly encouraged to contact your respective communications office PRIOR TO responding. It may be appropriate for a representative from either Michigan Medicine or Public Affairs to speak to the media on your behalf. Or, if you are to serve as a spokesperson, you may be more comfortable receiving some tips and tricks for talking with the media.
  • If you are part of Michigan Medicine, please contact the Department of Communication at (734) 764-2220 or DeptComm-PR-Team@med.umich.edu.
  • If you are not part of Michigan Medicine (e.g., any central campus school/college/unit), please forward any media inquiries you receive to the U-M Office of Public Affairs at (734) 936-5190 or public.affairs@umich.edu.

Remember, we are here to serve as advocates for your research and for the responsible care and use of animals at the University of Michigan. Please reach out to us at acu-media@umich.edu with any questions or concerns you may have.

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