Animal research - step by step

This is because we need to ensure that the animals come from approved suppliers, that the animal order is consistent with the approved protocol, that the animals are transported by an approved carrier, and that there are technicians present to receive the animals when they arrive.

We also need to make sure that we actually have room for your animals. All animal rooms might be fully booked.

Request for approval of animal orders must be in writing.

For rodents, use the form enclosed here to the right.

Send pr e-post

Please include the health monitoring report (with 18 month history) of the exporting facility or non-commercial vendor.

Please note that all animals must be acclimatized at least one week after arrival at the lab animal facility. Remember to order animals in good time!

Important, for order of rodents: When you have received a confirmation from the Lab Animal Facility that you can order animals, this is confirmed with a form. You must deliver this to the person on your department/unit which is responsible for ordering things in the UoB system (or the hospital system, depending on where your finances are). The form from the Lab Animal Facility must be enclosed with the order through the system, or the supplier will not accept the order.

Animal orders (mice and rats) are coordinated through the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, except for animals from Charles River, which is coordinated through NOVA-SCB AS (Scanbur). The Norwegian Institute of Public Health will have all orders by Wednesday at 12.00, for arrivals next week. This means that we must have your request no later than Tuesday, and preferably earlier. It is not all the staff who have access to make such approvals, because of the necessary procedures. Journaling and control also takes time. The person at your department/unit responsible for making the order in the system, also needs time to do this. If you place your order at the last minute you can run the risk of not being able to receive your animals on your research schedule.

Note that import of animals from other sources are strictly regulated. Ask us for advice. Never order any animals without approval from the Lab Animal Facility, even if your project is approved. The animals will then most likely be rejected at the door. We cannot accept animals without known health status, because of the risk of introducing contagious agents to our other lab animal strains, or unknown variables to the research results.

The Lab Animal Facility does the orders of pigs towards the farmers. We use as local farmers as possible, for shorter transport time and thus less stress on the animals. The requirements for health status of pigs is the same as for human consumption.
The research groups e-mails the Lab Animal facility details such as: number of pigs, male or female if applicable, date it will be set into the project, and what weight the pig should be on the research day. Remember to calculate 7 days of acclimatization, at least.
Note that orders of pigs must be coordinated so that no pig will be housed alone. Alone housing is bad animal welfare and in violation of rules and regulations. The research groups will benefit from planning use of the operation rooms together, and send the order of pigs to the Lab Animal Facility in one e-mail per research week (or more weeks if possible). Then you could plan it so that no pig will be housed alone, and will also save transport costs.