October 1 Deadline Approaching for CAAT Animal Welfare Enhancement Award Proposals: Apply Now

October 1, 2010 marks the deadline for proposals for the CAAT Animal Welfare Enhancement Awards (AWE).

The focus of these awards is to refine the housing, handling and/or experimental situations for laboratory animals. Studies may, for example, examine:

how physiological and behavioral stress responses to common husbandry (e.g., capture) and traditional treatment procedures (e.g., gavage, injection, blood collection) can be reduced or eliminated (e.g., by training the subjects to cooperate rather than resist);

whether animals caged at different tier levels show different physiological and behavioral stress responses when being approached by personnel, and how these responses can be minimized or avoided; whether the presence of a compatible companion buffers physiological and behavioral stress responses to experimental situations (e.g., enforced restraint);

whether animals kept in legally minimum-sized cages benefit from a moderate increase in space that is (a) empty versus (b) structured in species-appropriate ways (e.g., shelter, visual blind, perch, platform, PVC tube).

Any studies to be undertaken must be non-invasive, with the possibl exception of obtaining blood for biochemical measurements (animals that have
been trained to cooperate during venipuncture should be used, if possible). Objective measures might include behavior, coat appearance, body weight, analysis of feces, urine, or blood as described above.

Each award will be for $6,000.

These awards are intended for laboratory and animal technicians; senior investigators can sponsor them, however. They are limited to North American applicants only.