Services

Animal Resources Center has 3 core service units:

Our goals are high quality animal care and professional support for our faculty, staff, and students. Our animal care staff maintain our facilities, feed and care for our animals, perform at least once daily checks on all animals, and report directly to the Attending Veterinarian.

We have permanent professional staff at our animal facilities and some are cross trained to work on multiple species at any of our facilities. Some of our staff also have field research experience.

All animal orders must go through ARC and you must have IACUC approval before we can place the order. Animals from approved vendors or suppliers have a minimum of a 10 day quarantine/acclimation period prior to starting any research or teaching activity.

Wild caught animals requires appropriate permits from wildlife agencies. Please contact the UAF Office of Research Integrity (ORI) or the Attending Veterinarian for assistance. Wild caught animals go through a minimum 14 day quarantine/acclimation period.

You may not bring any animals to a UAF animal facility until you have made arrangements with the animal facility staff, have acquired all necessary permits (if needed), and have an approved IACUC protocol.

Daily animal care is performed by ARC Animal Care Technicians and the project or department is charged per diem rates established for the species being used. Per diem rates are based on the daily cost of feed, bedding, and labor. These rates are comparable to other universities and considering the amount of free assistance, it is as a pretty good deal!
Our Animal Care Technicians have advanced degrees and some have AALAS certification. If needed, investigators or instructors may arrange to have our Animal Care Technicians assist with animal handling, data collection, or procedures. Check our recharge rates for the hourly rate.
New to our facility? Our staff will set you up for training and orientation so you can get to work! Our facilities have multiple projects running so you need to pay attention.  There are many factors that can influence our animals and the outcome of a project. You do not want to do anything that will impact your own work and you do not want to affect someone else’s work.

UAF Veterinary Services is an integral component of the Animal Resources Center (ARC) providing veterinary support to all animals involved in UAF activities. This includes assisting in logistic planning for field research activities.

Veterinary Services is located in the Biological Research and Diagnostics (BiRD) Building on the UAF campus. We provide a wide range of clinical and diagnostic support services.

If you have any concerns about the health and well-being of any UAF animal please contact us right away! To encourage timely calls for veterinary assistance there is no fee for basic clinical and diagnostic services or for establishing and maintaining a preventive medicine program.

Veterinary services are also available for research and teaching activities. These are fee based activities that include but are not limited to: sample collection, anesthesia, surgery, radiology, ultrasonography, clinical pathology, and preparation of high quality histological sections. We are also available to help identify outside laboratories and service vendors when needed.

All our efforts are directed at ensuring the health and well-being of all animals at UAF. The primary goal of our program is to prevent problems before they occur. To this end, ARC was organized to ensure a close working relationship between the veterinary staff and the animal husbandry staff. Through cooperative management and continual assessment of our management and husbandry protocols we are able to maintain a high standard of care.

Our Animal Care Program at UAF follows the guidelines for Adequate Veterinary Care promulgated by the American College of Laboratory Animal Practitioners:

  1. Disease Detection and Surveillance, Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment and Resolution
  2. Handling and Restraint; Anesthetics, Analgesics and Tranquilizer Drugs; and Methods of Euthanasia
  3. Surgical and Postsurgical Care
  4. Animal Well-Being
  5. Appropriate Use of Animals in Research and Testing

Contact ARC for information on the benefits of animal research to human, animal, and environmental health.

Our Large Animal Research Station on Yankovich Road has a very active education and outreach program. We encourage you to visit the LARS website for details.

 

For information and assistance regarding any of our services or current recharge rates. please contact us.