Any person witnessing or having direct knowledge of a situation that they believe jeopardizes animal welfare should report the incident immediately. Such situations may include, but are not limited to, an apparent case of non-compliance with policy or guidelines for animal use, a clinical emergency, or a mechanical or facility issue that jeopardizes animal safety or welfare.
An incident of animal welfare concern can be reported, WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION OR FEAR OF REPRISAL, by any Laboratory Animal Services (LAS) staff, laboratory personnel, faculty, or any person witnessing a situation that causes them to have a concern about the care and use of experimental animals at Augusta University.
The incident should be reported by completing the online Animal Welfare Incident Report. Reports may be submitted anonymously from campus computers. Submitted reports are automatically copied to the all AU Veterinarians, the IACUC Chair, the IACUC Vice-chair, the DLAS Animal Operations Coordinator, the DLAS Facility Manager, and the IACUC office.
If the incident is a clinical emergency, any LAS staff person or the LAS Office (706-721-3421) can be contacted to rapidly address the issue and contact veterinary staff; the incident report can be submitted subsequently.
In Case of Emergency After Hours, call or text the on-call veterinary staff at 706-329-6391.
The IACUC, the federally mandated Augusta University authority for oversight of animal care and use, will investigate all incident reports in accordance with the Incident Reporting Policy.
All incidents will be investigated and handled expeditiously and will be placed on the next meeting agenda for the full IACUC, to ensure resolution of the concern and initiate any follow-up actions they deem necessary. For reports submitted outside of DLAS staff and where contact information is provided, the person who submitted the Incident Report will receive a letter from the IACUC Office following the IACUC meeting, summarizing the incident and the actions taken to resolve it. If the report is submitted by DLAS staff, the resolution of the reported incident will be relayed through DLAS management
No person shall be subjected to reprisals for filing a report under this policy. A reporter’s right to protection from retaliation does not extend immunity for the reporter’s participation in the matters that are the subject of the allegations or an ensuing investigation.
