1 October 2021

Depopulating healthy university animals

White laboratory rats. Foto: Olena Kurashova
📷 Olena Kurashova // Colourbox.com

Ethical question of the month, July 2021

A veterinarian has a long-term contract with the animal care committee of a university in good standing with the Canadian Council of Animal Care (CCAC). He was informed by an email from the Dean that 50 healthy research animals would be depopulated for management reasons. The directive went against the advice of the Animal Care Committee, the primary investigator, the technicians who cared for the animals, and the approved Animal Use Protocol end points for these animals. The veterinarian informed the appropriate authorities at the university that depopulation, in the absence of consultation with the Animal Care Committee and veterinarian, would constitute “euthanasia of convenience” and that this would jeopardize the veterinary/client/patient relationship upon which a CCAC certificate was contingent. The technicians, fearing for their jobs, eventually depopulated the animals and the veterinarian’s contract was terminated. What might be the appropriate next step, and would this be any different if the research animals were primates, food animals, dogs, companion animals, rodents, or fish?

Clare Palmer, Peter Sandøe, & Dan Weary comment on this dilemma and you can read it here: Ethicists’ commentary on depopulating healthy university animals (pdf)

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