Dear IBF-Users,

in this following newsletter we would like to give you all the information regarding the current situation and organization of the IBF:

Animal welfare:

1. §11 permit holders

All §11 permit holders should install an animal welfare committee.

§11 permits that only contain animal usage and not animal care, the committee only consists of the leader and their representative.

§11 permits that contain use and care, the committee has to consist of representatives of science and animal care.

These committees have to meet regularly to discuss measures for improvement of the animal`s wellbeing. These meetings have to be protocolled.

As regularly is not further specified, 1-2 protocolled meetings a year should be sufficient.

In case of an inspection however, it is important to have these protocols as they will be demanded by the authorities.

So please remember to at least have one committee meeting until the end of this year.

As the animal welfare officers are not a part of these committees anymore, they are not planning any of these meetings anymore.

It however is useful to invite your animal welfare officer to your meeting.

2. Animal welfare compatible euthanasia of fetuses, embryos respectively and pregnant mother animals

The recommendation No. 006/2022 of the national committee professes that the extraction of living fetuses from an euthanized mother animal in the last third of their normal development prior to birth is considered a §7 TierSchG animal experiment project requiring approval. 

If for certain the fetuses are anesthetized or dead a §4 TierSchG animal euthanasia project is sufficient.

In terms of the use of fetuses in the last third of the pregnany referring to §4 we have come to the following understanding with the regional council in Karlsruhe:

1.      Euthanasia of the mother animal through an overdose of Barbiturates (Pentobarbital) or an overdose of Ketamin/Xylazin.

2.      Extraction of the anesthetized fetuses (euthanizing them afterwards through decapitation for example) or the dead fetuses from the uterus.

If the mother animal is euthanized through cervical dislocation or O2 inhalation, the experiment is considered an animal experiment that again requires approval from the authorities, so please review existing animal euthanasia projects for their requirements.

Courses

Due to staff shortage and the fact that many participants see their application as not binding, the organization for the theoretical and practical part of the animal courses had to be changed.

The theoretical part will be outsourced to LAS interactive (as many other universities already have) which will result in increased prices. More information will follow shortly.

Accident reports

According to new requirements for data protection, accident reports have to be placed into a specific mailbox in front of the office of the animal welfare secretary on the ground floor (Room 0.58). Furthermore, accidents have to be reported to ones employer as well.

Breeding & Mouse line usage

Unfortunately, it often occurs that mouse lines are getting too old to be used for scientific purposes which results in terminating the breeding.

In the aspect of animal welfare as well as the limited resources we can provide, we are asking for a careful time scheduling in terms of import, breeding dimension as well as the timeframe to carry out the experiment.

S1- Instruction

To be able to participate in the S1-Instruction as uncomplicated as possible, we again will provide an online link and a certificate of attendance, which will be online for 6 weeks, starting in December.

The Instruction is available in German and English (also it truly is short).

GVO Data sheets

Unfortunately, often datasheets are incomplete or filled out wrong. Especially in view of the correct entry in MoVi, we must have appropriate information about the mouse line.

Thus we would like to urge you, to check whether the sheets are filled out correctly before submitting.

IBF- Animal orders

Please inform yourself on our IBF-Homepage under the following link:

https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/einrichtungen/ibf/service/tbestell.html

Current forms:

Please only use the most current forms which can be found on our IBF-Homepage under „Formulare“ right under IBF / Tierbestellungen.

Old forms will be deleted without any announcement.

E-Mail addresses

According to the requirements of data protection only work e-mail addresses are to be used to contact us and vice versa.

Emails from private email addresses will be deleted without any comment straight away.

Reviewing of animal orders

The person sending the animal order is considered the orderer. Only this person will receive the order confirmation. The order must be checked carefully and a complaint should be made if there are any abnormalities within the placed order.

Non available animals:

There are various reasons why certain animals are not available. Often times we are asked if the order can be placed with a different breeder. This decision can only be made by the orderers laboratory itself, as ordering from a different breeder can have an impact on the experiment.

We recommend getting in contact with the breeder before making that decision.

For example:

-          C57BL/6J should not be different, as this line is a registered trademark of Jackson Laboratory which undergoes regular genetic controls.

-          C57BL/6N can differentiate, as they do not undergo these genetic controls.

-          Outbred strains mostly differentiate

Changes/ Cancellation

The IBF-Animal Order should always be informed about Enquiries, Cancellations or Changes of an order.

Please stick to the following schedule:

* The animals can be ordered at any time (even weeks in advance). After their order acceptance date however a delivery for the following week is not possible.

** Deliveries that do not come from the CRL- Branch in Germany, can differentiate in their delivery date.

Have a beautiful Advent season, happy holidays, merry Christmas and a great start into the year that is coming.

Best wishes,

Sabine Chourbaji