Animal Resource Facility

Conducting Research with Animals

Animal Procurement

The ARF is responsible for ALL research animal procurement. ALL requests for animals and all animal orders MUST be placed ONLY by the ARF office. All requests and inquiries to use animals should be directed to the ARF office. Procedures for procuring animals are detailed below:

  1. Prerequisites / Conditions
    To maintain animals in the ARF a Principal Investigator MUST:
    1. Have a current, approved Animal Use Protocol with sufficient numbers available for the species requested.
    2. Have an ARF account for billing purposes. To establish an account, direct inquiries to ARF accounting dept.

  2. Commercial Vendors
    1. When placing an animal order for rodents, you must first determine the species/strain/substrain/genotype that you need. If uncertain of the supplier, please visit the following approved vendor list to determine availability, cost, etc.
      1. Harlan Sprague-Dawley
      2. Jackson Laboratories
      3. Charles River Laboratories
      4. Taconic
  3. Animal Order Deadlines
    1. Animal Orders to vendors are routinely placed on Thursday morning.
    2. Animal Order requests must be placed prior to 9:00 AM on Thursday for animals expected to be delivered the following week.
    3. Holiday Deadlines
      1. Holidays sometimes disrupt normal ordering and delivery schedules.
      2. Check with the ARF office regarding holiday schedules 272-3936 or KMChavez@salud.unm.edu
    4. On-line Ordering    Animal Order Form
    5. FAX Orders:  FAX to 272-9106
    6. In-Person Orders: BRF G-37L (ARF office)

  • Transfer from Other Institutions
    In order to receive animals from another academic or research institution, the transfer must first be approved by the HSC ARF attending veterinarian. The approval is based upon the determination of the health and SPF (Specific Pathogen Free) status of the animals. In order to complete this assessment, the HSC ARF veterinarian must review a Health Surveillance Report, to be provided by the originating institution veterinary staff.
    1. Animal Transfer Procedures
      1. Complete the IMPORTING ANIMALS TO UNM form
      2. Forward the document to the originating institution for completion of contact information.
      3. Submit the completed form to the ARF veterinarian with a complete explanation of the request
      4. The ARF office will notify you of approval or disproval of the request, as well as conditions of the importation and quarantine of the animals.
      5. When notified of approval, the PI is responsible for contacting the ARF office (272-3936) to verify animal numbers, gender, housing conditions, protocol number, ARF account number, etc.

  • Transfer to Other Institutions
    1. Complete the form EXPORTING ANIMALS FROM UNM
    2. Provide destination institution Animal Resource Facility veterinary staff contact information.
    3. Coordinate shipment through ARF
    4. ARF will coordinate shipment/transfer
  • Transfer of animals within UNM HSC
    All animals maintained within the ARF must be maintained on a current, approved Animal Use Protocol. If you wish to transfer animals form one protocol to another, you must know what the animal protocol numbers are. If the animals are being transferred from one PI to another, on approved protocols, the PIs names and protocol numbers must be available.
    1. Contact the ARF Office to request transfer
    2. Provide the following information
      1. Quantity of animals, number of cages
      2. Age, gender
      3. Housing arrangements requested
      4. Number of cage cards needed
      5. Protocol numbers
      6. PI name(s)
      7. Animal Room requested
  • International Transfers
    1. Complete and submit the form "IMPORTING ANIMALS TO UNM"
    2. IMPORTATION: Follow USDA Guidelines for importation of animals into the United States - http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/live_animals.shtml. USDA does not normally regulate import of laboratory rodents unless they have been exposed to foreign agriculture relevant animal diseases. However, specific information should be added to the health certificate based upon USDA Guidelines for Importation of Laboratory Mammals # 1103 [ http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/animal_import/downloads/ilivemam.html]. The CDC regulates import of specific species of animals and infected animals and tissues if they pose a human infectious disease risks. Specific species include nonhuman primates, dogs cats, ferrets, African rodents and other exotic pets. Specific pathogen free (SPF laboratory mice and rats are not generally regulated by the CDC.
    3. EXPORTATION: Contact the ARF veterinary staff
    4. Contact the UNM HSC ARF veterinarian for additional information that may be required.