GENERAL ANIMAL UNIT SERVICE BIZKAIA CAMPUS

All research activities carried out with experimental animals on the Bizkaia Campus will be carried out only at the facilities of the Bizkaia Animal Facility, except those that require an infrastructure that the Animal Facility itself does not have.

If the research activity requires the departure of animals from the animal facility, the animal facility staff must be requested and justified, who will assess whether the request and justification is pertinent.

1. All researchers from the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, those from other universities and those from public and private Organizations who, in accordance with these rules and the SGI Regulations, request it may access the General Animal Services.
2. Each Animal Unit will make available to those interested "Rules of Use" for the services of the corresponding Campus Animal Facility, which include the benefits available. It should be remembered that each one of the Animal Facilities of the three university campuses of the UPV/EHU have different characteristics of official qualification and, therefore, some differences in the internal regulations of operation.
3. Requests for animals or the use of the Animal Facility services will be dealt with in order of receipt, and must be recorded in the corresponding record book or in the file of service request sheets available in each Animal Facility unit.
4. The order of attention to requests may be altered for technical reasons or to carry out urgent work duly justified by the person in charge of the service. The priority of services external to the UPV/EHU may not exceed 30% of the weekly operating time of the service.
5. When the work carried out by a unit of the Animal Units supposes a substantial contribution in the course of the investigations of a group or research project, the corresponding publications will mention the use of said services.
6. The fees for the use of the different equipment will be those approved annually by the Research Commission. All services provided (external and internal) will be billed through the UPV/EHU Accounting Service or budgetary procedures, in accordance with the established rates.
7. The management of laboratory animals will be carried out according to the corresponding technology for each species, and always within the current legal regulations, counting on the advice of the Animal Facility staff. This action will be regulated by the Rules of Use of the services of each Animal Unit of the University of the Basque Country-EHU.

a) Reception of animals: in compliance with Royal Decree 1201/2005 BOE 21/10/2005) only animals from officially authorized breeding and/or maintenance centers will be admitted to the service. In all other cases, the express authorization of the Scientific Director of the corresponding Unit will be required. After receipt and preparation of the entry record, the animals will be transferred to the quarantine area.

b) Stabling of animals:

• Prior to the delivery of the animals to the users: both production (in the Leioa unit) and maintenance (in all units) will be the responsibility of the Service personnel assigned to said function.
• After the delivery of the animals to the users (except in the cases in which the research needs so require), the maintenance will be carried out by the Service personnel in the accommodation rooms for treated animals.

No animal that has been delivered to the user may be returned to the production or maintenance areas.

c) Behavioral studies: Specifically, the departure of animals from the Animal Facility for behavioral studies is not authorised, since said experimentation can currently be carried out in the two buildings of the Animal Facility Service on the Bizkaia Campus:

1. Conventional Building. There is a behavior unit at the service of Teaching and Research Staff. The application process for the Animal Service has been published on the web.
2. Rita Levy Building. There is an open-plan behavior room of about 22 m2 with panels with which the room can be divided into different boxes. It does not have equipment installed for common use, so it is the users who will carry their equipment during the experimentation and remove it at the end. This service can be booked on the Animal Service website: https://www.ehu.eus/en/web/sgiker/bizkaiko-animaliategia-zerbitzuaren-eskaria

To access the Phenomics Unit of the Animal Facility of Bizkaia, the requirements established in the Protocol for access to the Phenomics Unit for SGIkers and use of the available services must be met.

d) Standards for implantation procedures of cells and products of animal origin: To preserve the health status of the Animal Facility, preventing cells and products of animal origin inoculated into mice from being a source of infection, the following protocol must be followed 

e) Material: All the material that is necessary to remove from the Service to the laboratories will be returned as soon as possible. It is not authorized to carry out any type of transformation in the material of the Service.

f) Final destination of the animals: the sacrifice of the animals will be carried out either by the user according to authorized euthanasia methods or by the staff of the Animal Facility when required. The staff will centralize the storage of corpses in a freezer until they are withdrawn by the corresponding official service. In all cases, rigorous compliance with elementary safety measures will be necessary to avoid causing injuries to personnel handling waste.

To access the Bizkaia Animal Unit, the requirements established in the Protocol for access to SGIker and use of available services must be met.