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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
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background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Excellent news today! <a
href="http://aaalac.org/">AAALAC International</a> has stated
its position on the new AVMA Guidelines. As we had urged and
hoped, the AAALAC position on thoracic compression is far more
reasonable than is that of the AVMA:</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
17.600000381469727px; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em style="font-style:
italic;">Thoracic (cardiopulmonary, cardiac) compression is a
method used to euthanize wild small mammals and birds, mainly
under field conditions. According to the 2013 Guidelines,
thoracic compression is an unacceptable <span style="font-size:
14px;">means of euthanizing animals that are not deeply
anesthetized or insentient due to other reasons. </span><span
style="font-size: 14px;">The Council on Accreditation
recognizes the need for the use of thoracic compression in
conscious wild small birds </span><span style="font-size:
14px;">and mammals in situations where alternate techniques
are not feasible or objectives of the protocol are such that
the </span><span style="font-size: 14px;">Institutional Animal
Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and/or competent authority,
grants approval for this method, </span><span
style="font-size: 14px;">training for the technique is
provided, and its continued approval is re-evaluated as more
scientifically-based data </span></em></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
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text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em style="font-style:
italic;">regarding its use becomes available.</em></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
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text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
17.600000381469727px; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Further, at our urging,
AAALAC expressly recognized the concept of "humane killing." The
AVMA had defined euthanasia as a matter of ending suffering, or
when death is a welcome event. That obviously rules out most
wildlife research and much lab-based research, too! We had urged
OLAW to expressly recognize the concept of "humane killing" - a
category into which the AVMA threw many techniques even though the
use of those techniques might very well occur under situations
that constitute euthanasia. OLAW ignored all comments and simply
accepted the AVMA Guidelines as written. AAALAC, however,
recognized why it was so important to recognize "humane killing" -
otherwise, the termination of life of a very large number of lab
animals would not be considered euthanasia and all these research
institutions would have to report hundreds or thousands of
"departures" from the ILAR Guide (which also incorporates the AVMA
Guidelines, even though it was published over a year prior to the
new Guidelines).</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
17.600000381469727px; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
17.600000381469727px; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AAALAC's policy states:</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
17.600000381469727px; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(40, 40, 40);
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size:
14.399999618530273px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
17.600000381469727px; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="font-style:
italic;">Clarification: The 2013 Guidelines make a distinction
between euthanasia, humane killing, and slaughter, and state <span
style="font-size: 14px;">that neither slaughter nor humane
killing is covered in the document P.68, S6.1.1. Not
included among the definitions of </span><span
style="font-size: 14px;">these terms are ending the lives of
healthy animals or scientific collection of animals. For
clarification, whatever the </span><span style="font-size:
14px;">term used, classification of the method, or reason
given for killing animals: euthanasia, humane killing,
slaughter, </span><span style="font-size: 14px;">harvest,
depopulation, scientific collection, or research-related,
the Council on Accreditation’s foremost concern, in </span><span
style="font-size: 14px;">all situations, is with humane
technique. The goal of humane technique is to minimize pain,
distress, and the negative </span><span style="font-size:
14px;">effect to the animal. The technique employed should
result in rapid loss of consciousness followed by cardiac
or </span><span style="font-size: 14px;">respiratory arrest
and, ultimately, a loss of brain function. Although complete
absence of pain and distress is preferred, </span>it is
understood that it cannot always be achieved.<br>
</em></div>
</div>
<br>
For those of you at AAALAC accredited institutions, this will
definitely allay any concerns your institution has that allowing
thoracic compression - no matter how justified the circumstances -
will cost them their accreditation. Let's also hope that the voice
of reasons reaches the ears of authorities.<br>
<br>
Ellen<br>
<br>
PS - Crass commercial announcement: This did NOT happen by
spontaneous generation. It happened because the Ornithological
Council and the American Society of Mammalogists toiled ceaselessly.
If you value the work that your scientific societies support, then
please join/renew and for those of you who are ornithologists, a
drop in the OC hat would be greatly appreciated! For more
information about the Ornithological Council:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ornithologyexchange.org/articles/_/community/the-annual-ornithological-council-pledge-break-r104">http://ornithologyexchange.org/articles/_/community/the-annual-ornithological-council-pledge-break-r104</a><br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net">ellen.paul@verizon.net</a>
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET">"
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET"</a>
</pre>
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