Animal Care - Reactivation of Animal Facilities Dated May 22, 2020
Last Update: May 22, 2020
Campus Animal Resources looks forward to research teams returning to the animal facilities! As we institute these new operational steps together, patience and flexibility by all parties will be critical to best balance research needs with community safety measures.
Please review the full CAR Animal Facilities Plan for a Safe Return (PDF) with your respective teams; should you have questions or need assistance, please contact carinfo@msu.edu. Highlights include:
- CAR Animal facilities operate independently from individual research/building reopening plans. Existing CAR expectations within facilities for gowns/gloves, phones in plastic bags, and electronic scheduling are to be followed, in addition to updated items in below.
- Principal Investigators must submit a Laboratory Plan for a Safe Return (template attached) to Department Chairs. Completed copies of this document should be forwarded to EHS/ORA at ora@msu.edu.
- Animal orders in CARLOS, imports/exports, and inter/intra-campus transfers can resume, provided the PI’s Laboratory Plan has been approved.
- All persons that enter animal areas are to have a face-cover (over nose/mouth) and are expected to be symptom-free for any CDC-identified clinical signs of COVID-19 or other illnesses; persons may be asked to leave CAR areas if seen without a face-cover. It is the responsibility of the PI to provide certain PPE (cloth face covers, N95s) for their personnel.
- Signage will be placed on animal facility room doors to dictate preferred room occupancy limits.
- Veterinary emergencies will be prioritized for prompt assessment; please be mindful that you may be asked to step out of an area so that animal welfare can be evaluated by a CAR staff member.
- Established electronic (e.g. Google) calendars should be used by research staff to sign up for time within the animal areas. CAR supervisors will work with research teams to review shared calendar access and use expectations.
- Service charges for euthanasia, cage separation, vet assistance and breeding colony management will resume on June 1, 2020.
See also, MSU Environmental Health & Safety's Workbook for Safely Returning to Research.
Visit the CAR for archived memos.
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) continues to remain fully functional. As we transition to remote work the IACUC will continue to review protocols through Click and by email through our legacy Word documents.
Contact Information
- Campus Animal Resources - Main phone, general questions: 517-353-5064.
- Urgent animal condition or concerns: carvets@msu.edu at any time, or call outside of workday hours:
517-884-8527. - CARLOS questions, animal orders, billing inquiries, new accounts: CARLOS@msu.edu.
- Housing facilities, husbandry, feeding questions and concerns: CARinfo@msu.edu.
- Click Help Desk: clickhelpdesk@msu.edu, 517-355-2000.
- IACUC Office: iacuc@msu.edu , 517-432-8103, 517-353-9705.