Policy on the Queen’s University Biological Station (QUBS)

The Queen’s University Animal Care Committee (UACC) is required to review all research and teaching activities at the Queen's University Biological Station (QUBS) involving vertebrate animals, including those from outside institutions. The UACC must ensure that all research is in compliance with the "Animals for Research Act" (Province of Ontario, 1968/69, Rev 1990) and the guidelines and policies of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) and the policies and SOPs of the UACC.

Approvals are required for collecting, capturing, tagging, marking, handling, bio sampling and housing (as well as some observation) of vertebrates, whether for research, teaching or demonstration purposes. Approval for invertebrate research is not required for work conducted at the Biological Station.

Researchers external to Queen’s University must first receive home Animal Care Committee protocol approval followed by Queen’s UACC Subcommittee approval prior to commencement. An indication of whether all wildlife permits are being or have been secured must be included within the protocol. PI’s may be required to clarify which portion(s) of the protocol occur at QUBS if this is not clear. The UACC also requires standard renewal information on complications encountered relative to animal use in the last year; adequacy of humane/study endpoints; and a description of the use and distribution of animals compared to that which was approved.

Queen’s researchers are required to adhere to the UACC Policy on Wildlife Permits (2017)

It is important that the UACC and QUBS inform researchers that no animal (vertebrate) research, whether teaching or testing in nature, can be performed unless all required documentation is received by all necessary parties. Documentation of approvals will be held electronically for access by the UACC, the Biology Department at Queen's and on site at the Biological Station.

QUBS will be visited annually by the UACC who will tour the facility to better understand the work being conducted, to meet with those working in the facility, and to forward any recommendations or commendations.