Animals for teaching and research purposes may be obtained by submitting a Request for Order of Experimental Animals to DLAR. When ordering animals, please remember that:

• All animals must be acquired legally from approved commercial or agricultural sources.
• Sufficient time must be allowed for ordering, paperwork, and shipping. It is generally helpful to check with the DLAR buyer prior to ordering since acquisition time may vary widely with species and sources.
• No laboratory animal, animal food, animal cage, equipment, bedding material, or other animal related commodity may be purchased or acquired from any source without DLAR approval.
  • This must be done so that DLAR (1) can determine if the arriving animals pose a threat to the health of the resident  colony, (2) can ensure that adequate housing space is available, and (3) can ensure that the related commodities and equipment meet regulations.
• Investigators may prefer to leave the selection of a vendor to the DLAR, since the Department is aware of, and monitors, the health and quality of animals from various vendors.
• Investigators should be aware that shipment may have a major impact on the health status of animals. It is strongly recommended that animals be allowed to acclimate for several days prior to their use in an experiment.

Rodents (mice, rats, guinea pigs, gerbils, and hamsters) must be purchased from vendors approved by the University's Rodent Disease Control Program. Most, but not all, of the rodents available from Charles River, Harlan Sprague Dawley, Taconic and Jackson Laboratories meet these requirements. A current list of approved vendors is maintained in the DLAR office. This approved vendor list is updated continuously as the health status of various production facilities change. When a particular strain of rodent is not available from an approved vendor, the method of acquisition must be established in advance. Rodent quarantine housing space is available for holding such animals. This space, however, is limited and access must be scheduled in advance. Again, The DLAR must be consulted when any animal is brought to the Health Science Center from any source.  Animals that arrive at the Health Science Center without prior approval may be destroyed on arrival.

Transplantable rodent tumors must be screened for rodent pathogens (MAP tests) before they are propagated  in rodents housed in DLAR.

Please contact the veterinary staff when planning research with transplantable rodent tumors to arrange screening of such tumors for rodent pathogens.

If more animals will be needed for a research project than originally requested on the Application for Use of Laboratory Animals, a Request to Increase Animal Usage must be submitted to the Institutional Animal Care Program Office for approval by the IACUC.

If an investigator finds that he/she has obtained animals that will not be used, the investigator may transfer these animals to another investigator by preparing a Request for Transfer of Experimental Animals. The Request must be signed by both the transferor and the transferee and forwarded to DLAR for verification and approval. This form can be obtained from DLAR or downloaded from the DLAR web site.

The purchase of animals by the Veterans Administration (using VA funds) for use at the Health Science Center must have prior approval by DLAR before the VA is authorized to make the purchase. This must be done to assure that the purchases are in compliance with established university policies and to ensure housing requirements can be met. Such requisitions must be approved by an authorized Laboratory Animal Resources representative. Copies will be forwarded to the VA and a copy of the approved requisition will be retained in DLAR.

Additional information:

• Per Diem Rates
• Request for Order of Experimental Animals
• Request for Transfer of Experimental Animals
• Factors to Consider When Calculating Costs for the Purchase of Animals Under an Approved Protocol

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