Animal Welfare Committee

In cooperation with the animal welfare officers, an animal welfare committee monitors compliance with animal welfare. The establishment of such a committee is required by law at facilities that conduct animal experiments.

At the FLI, members of the animal protection committee include one or more animal facility managers as well as selected animal caretakers and scientists. The task of the committee is to support the animal welfare officers in fulfilling their duties to ensure animal welfare. This means that both decide jointly on regulations relevant to animal welfare and determine measures to ensure and improve animal welfare at the FLI.

Topics addressed by the animal welfare committee at the FLI include the following:

• Better equipment (enrichment) of mouse cages and fish tanks
• Optimization of animal handling
• Research, testing and implementation of alternative methods that can replace animal experiments or render animal interventions superfluous (non-invasive methods)
• Effective pain management for fish
• Providing advice and information on the above-mentioned points for all employees working with animals in animal experiments
• Establishment of internal workflow procedures to monitor animal welfare.