Animal Welfare Awards Granted

The Animal Welfare Institute and the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) requested grant proposals for Animal Welfare Enhancement Awards for studies intended to improve housing, handling and/or experimental conditions for animals kept in research laboratories (see Fall 2003 AWI Quarterly). We received a total of 40 applications and are pleased to report that the review committee granted a total of 13 awards, each for $6,000, for the following research projects:

  1. The use of a conditioning technique to reduce the physiological and behavioral stress associated with repeated intra-peritoneal injection in rats. Investigator: Sylvie Cloutier, Center for the Study of Animal Well-being, Washington State University, Pullman
  2. Response to environmental enrichment during recovery from surgery in mice. Investigator: Kinta Diven, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
  3. Novel caging trial for long term group housing of rats. Investigator: Kris Maloney, Procter & Gamble, Mason
  4. The effects of light intensity on fecal cortisol and stereotypic behavior in adult male Macaca mulatta. Investigator: Babette Fontenot, Division of Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, New Iberia
  5. The effects of desensitization training on reducing stress levels in research dogs. Investigator: M.J. Hamilton, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
  6. Effects of enrichment devices on stress-related problems in mouse breeding. Investigator: Chandra Inglis, Department of Viral Immunology, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego
  7. A simple method for intracage mouse environmental enrichment device assessment. Investigator: Wilma Lagerwerf, Department of Animal Care and Veterinary Services, University of Western Ontario, Canada
  8. Social enrichment in a breeding colony of dogs. Investigator: Vicki Meyers-Wallen, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca
  9. Improvement of the breeding performance of wild-derived mice. Investigator: Carol Greider, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
  10. Evaluation of two non-contact infrared thermometers for determining changes in body temperature in mice. Investigator: Colette Wheler, Animal Resource Center, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
  11. How to assess fish welfare so that stressful situations can be minimized in the laboratory setting. Investigator: Stephanie Yue, Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Canada
  12. Reduction of captivity stress in chronically [single-] housed pigeons through an enriched environmental program. Investigator: Anita Conte, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Staten Island/Cuny, Staten Island
  13. Ultrasonic sound measurement as an indicator of pain and distress in laboratory rodents. Investigator: Wendy Williams, Center of Research Animal Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca

We look forward to reporting the findings in the Quarterly.