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Institute of Animal Technology Bulletin G G G It s OK not to be OKAY Enrichment for Ferrets Making a Difference on Monkey Island G G G AS ET News Branch News Diary Dates Vol 56 No 4 April 2020

Bulletin Vol 56 No 4 April 2020 EDITOR Carole Wilson bulletineditor iat org uk ASSISTANT EDITOR Paul Barwood bulletinassistant iat org uk ADVERTISEMENT MANAGERS PRC Associates Ltd mail prcassoc co uk Published monthly by the Institute of Animal Technology Registered Office 5 South Parade Summertown Oxford OX2 7JL ISSN 0263 2861 For enquiries other than Bulletin related contact IAT ADMINISTRATOR admin iat org uk or 0800 085 4380 Final copy date for May Bulletin 23rd March The opinions expressed in the Bulletin do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Institute CONTENTS Dear Readers It s OK not to be OKAY Let s Talk COVID 19 New Assistant Editor Refinement and Enrichment for Ferrets AS ET News Bing Caption Competition Winner 5 6 7 8 9 11 14 17 18 Making a Difference on Monkey Island 19 21 Branch News 22 33 Diary Dates 35

Bulletin April 2020 Dear Readers I had expected to be reporting on what a great and valuable time we all had at AST2020 What a difference a few weeks make AST2020 was cancelled and we are all in a lockdown situation Most of the workforce are working from home in isolation but as Animal Technologists that is not possible for most of us our job is to attend the needs of the animals we work with and what a stressful time this currently is You may want to read It s OK Not To Be OKAY on pages 6 7 We are still reporting on Branch events that happened before the outbreak of Covid19 North East England had their AGM read about that on pages 22 29 and Oxford held their 10th annual symposium also having speakers on a wide variety of subjects all of which were very varied and incredibly interesting Well done to Sara Rohling for her first ever presentation it must have been daunting Read about them on pages 30 33 On the subject of Branch information unfortunately some very bad news Herts and Essex Branch have decided to close in part due to poor support and attendance at their events I was very sad to hear this news as I thought their Guide Dog event sounded really good in the March edition of the Bulletin and I wished I had had the chance to attend You can read about this closure on page 34 The Bulletin itself has some news for you Karen had to step down as the Deputy Editor and is being replaced by Paul Barwood For those of you who do not know Paul you can read a brief CV and see a photo on page 8 Until next month keep well and keep up with all your invaluable work Keep Reading Carole 5

8 April 2020 Bulletin Paul Barwood Deputy Editor I studied Aquaculture and Fisheries management at Sparsholt College graduating in 2007 Soon after I started work in aquatics retail going on to manage multiple stores There I was able to work with hundreds of aquatic species from around the world As well as both freshwater and marine fish species this also included invertebrates corals plants and algae In 2016 I started at the UCL fish facility as the nursery technician I now oversee the running of the zebrafish nursery the husbandry of the killifish and cavefish also housed at the facility and have been a NACWO for over 3 years

Bulletin April 2020 9 Refinement and Ferret Enrichment Paper Review Photo Michael Truby Reijgwart M L Vinke C M Hendriksen C F M den Hoed K M van der Meer M I van der Meer M Schoemaker Nico J and van Zeeland Y R A 2018 An explorative study on the effect of provision of preferred and non preferred enrichment on behavioural and physiological parameters in laboratory ferrets Mustela putorius furo Applied Animal Behaviour Science 203 p64 72 https doi org 10 1016 j applanim 2018 02 014 O ne of the most common opening sentences of published papers focussing on a novel or exotic animal model is despite the ever increasing use of x as a model there is a gap of knowledge about y Typically in mice models the y is standardised and well understood Those not using mice must go out and discover y The authors of this paper looking at preferred environmental enrichment in laboratory ferrets had to do just that

10 April 2020 Bulletin The study involved three cages of six ferrets each with different configurations of environmental enrichment standard preferred and nonpreferred these were observed for a 24 hour period via a camera The standard condition enrichment SC also constituted the baseline for the other two groupings and consisted of food in a bowl water in a bottle and a bucket for shelter The preferred enrichment condition PEC changed the water from a bottle to a bowl added hammocks and a foraging ball with food pellets stuffed inside The last group non preferred enrichment condition NPEC had an extra food bowl two ferret balls and a golf ball This study used mixed data points observation and physiological obtained through bodyweight and blood samples using white blood cell counts The observation assessed eight types of behaviour including exploration social play agonistic behaviour inactivity eating and drinking All data points were measured at the beginning of a 24 hour period and a second time at the end The results showed that overall the PEC was the most positive for the ferrets However the authors acknowledge this is a bit misleading The PEC showed that aggressive behaviour decreased overall whereas in the SC it increased Conversely however the animals actually showed more interaction with the enrichment in the SC group which may have been the cause of the increased aggression Additionally the NPEC group also exhibited more overall interaction with the enrichment than the PEC However because the PEC showed an increase in social play over the other two groups it was inferred that there is more space for animal welfare here more positive social interaction is more beneficial for the group than individual interest in enrichment Fittingly this is quite a utilitarian interpretation which is the foundation of legal requirements The animals also expressed more interest in drinking from the water bowl in the PEC than either bottles in the SC or the NPEC which was easily interpreted as being the best way to express natural drinking behaviours This was determined by time spent drinking Although there was an attempt to identify a physiological difference between the three groups there was a lack of significant difference This data was obtained by placing the animals under anaesthesia which can be stressful For future experimental design eliminating this step or data requirement should be considered as a potential refinement

Bulletin April 2020 11 The authors addressed many of the issues with their experiment such as the low sample size of 18 animals and the short period of time of the experiment The results may differ with a longer experiment as any novelty of enrichment lessens over time The authors also indicated missing and skewed data points i e not measuring water intake and inactivity was difficult to differentiate from sleeping as the eyes were not visible on camera Good animal welfare incorporates new information that minimises pain suffering distress and lasting harm and it is an established technique to add enrichment to mammalian cages However without such experiments as this it can be difficult to determine what that would be As this experiment shows it is not straightforward to understand what enrichment is best and future studies are required to determine that Reviewed Karen Dunford

14 April 2020 Bulletin Patron Professor Lord Naren Patel KT Chair of Trustees Professor Sir Richard Gardner FIAT Hon FRS Secretary to the Trust Ken Applebee OBE FIAT FRSB Trustees Stephen Barnett MSc Hon FRSB Jasmine Barley MSc FIAT Karen J Gardner Wendy Steel BSc Hons FIAT Registered Charity Number 113319 Registered Office 5 South Parade Summertown Oxford OX2 7JL AS ET News Tired of London No way Samuel Johnson wrote in 1777 that when a man is tired of London he is tired of life In 2020 370 delegates showed that they are no more tired of the IAT West Middlesex Branch Technician Day than a man is tired of London Once again the meeting was held in the magnificent Francis Crick Institute AS ET was delighted to be invited to attend the 9th meeting and to meet up with longstanding friends including recipients of AS ET Bursaries We welcomed the opportunity to talk to many technicians about bursaries as being next to the CLAST stand we were the next port of call for anyone interested in continuing their education Funding especially for the Higher Education qualifications is still in short supply with even the bigger establishments struggling to pay for a complete course Although we do not only provide bursaries for students to undertake IAT qualifications they do make up the bulk of the applications It was also a good opportunity to recruit some individual supporters 2 month may not seem a great deal for people to find but every little helps and if we could encourage just half of the IAT members to become individual supporters that would raise approximately 24 000 In 2019 AS ET provided over 20 000 worth of bursaries so please fill out the forms and start supporting AS ET today As well as meeting delegates AS ET also provided some the judges for the Early Career presenters prize As always judging was difficult as just the fact that presenters are standing on a platform often for the first time is enough to evoke sympathy However the prize is about delivering Animal Technology and this year the prize sponsored by IPS was awarded to Mirabela Bandol from University

Bulletin April 2020 15 College London for her presentation A novel flexible type of enriched rat cage and it potential applications in promoting animal welfare The poster prize went to Zoe Windsor and S T Bate of UCL for their poster Assessing safety and suitability of nesting materials for mice with surgically fitted head plates A runner up prize was awarded to Samantha Hoskins and Jack Brown of The Francis Crick Institute for their poster Oestrus checking increasing productivity and embracing the 3Rs The meeting is always busy and at the end of the day I for one was very glad for the opportunity to sit down when I caught the train If this is the 9th meeting I wonder what the branch has up its sleeves for the 10th Well done everyone Your hard work is much appreciated AS ET Tech 2 Tech T 2 T Article Prize The AS ET Board of Trustees are pleased to announce that the 2019 T 2 T prize for articles appearing in issues of Animal Technology and Welfare during 2019 has awarded to Sperm cryopreservation and in vitro fertilisation in Zebrafish facilities at King s College London by Dimitra Mantzorou Thom Berriman Will Havelange Jacqueline Glover Sam Berry and Bruno Correia da Silva from King s College London The poster team receives a cash prize of 150 and a certificate commemorating their success The articles are judged by the members of the IAT Editorial Board The King s College London Zebrafish Facility is one of the largest standalone Zebrafish Facilities in the UK and Europe with a 16 000L water system a housing capacity of 3 500 tanks and 50 000 zebrafish Currently there are 491 strains of GA and wildtype zebrafish in the facility Our team consisting of 6 members is responsible for all zebrafish husbandry and the maintenance of the wildtype fish populations Furthermore the team provide wildtype embryos to the research teams daily and run a weekly fin clipping service as well as a Sperm Cryopreservation and IVF programme This article aims to share our Sperm Cryopreservation and IVF protocols with other technicians

16 April 2020 Bulletin This year marks the tenth anniversary of AS ET and several events were planned to both celebrate our birthday and raise funds for AS ET However due to the quarantine restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the Covid 19 virus some of these are now unlikely to go ahead The Surrey Hampshire and Sussex Branch had planned a Dragon Boat Race on the 27th May but due to the uncertainty of when the isolation period will end it is unlikely that it will go ahead A Celebratory Danceathon organised by the West Middlesex branch was to have been held on 3rd July Hopefully we will be out of this lockdown isolation but whether the branch will be able to go ahead depends if any other restrictions replace the current lockdown However the IAT AS ET Celebratory Ball to be held in Central London on the 21st November is still on schedule so keep the date free in your diary and your fingers crossed that as well as celebrating the IAT and AS ET anniversaries we can also celebrate the end of the strangest year that hopefully any of us will live through 21st November IAT and AS ET Celebratory Charity Ball in Central London Join us for Dinner dance and music Reporter Jas Barley

AS ET is a charity set up to advance education and promote excelle 2014 15 care Bulletin and welfare of animals usedMay in science April 2020 17 nthe To see how you can apply for a bursary visit our website www as et Theup companies listed below and sponsor AS ET excellence If you would set to education in set up to advance advance education and promote promote excellence in like to join find how to support us by looking at our website are of animals used in are ofout animals used in science science AS ET is aaa bursary charity up our to education and promote excellence in n apply for visit website www as et org uk an apply for bursaryset visit ouradvance website www as et org uk ity set totoadvance education and the care and welfare of animals used in excellence science arity setupup advance education and promote promote excellence in in elfare of animals used in science AS ET is a charity to advance education and promote excellence in the care welfare of animals used in science ted sponsor AS ET IfIfinand you would like to join them ted below below sponsor AS ET you would like to join them arity set up to advance education promote excellence in and welfare of animals used science To see how you can apply for a bursary visit our website www as et org uk www as et org u pport us by looking at our website welfare of animals used in science upport us by looking at our website can apply for a bursary visit our website www as et org uk u can apply for a bursary visit our website www as et org uk Sponsors of AS ETlisted are listed below and toAS ET find outIfmore please visit The companies below sponsor you would like the to join them ou canwebsite apply for a bursary visit our website www as et org uk www as et org uk below AS ET you like join them find out sponsor how to support bywould looking at to our website eslisted listed below sponsor AS ET IfIfus you would like to join ususbybylooking atatour website tosupport support looking our website es listed below sponsor AS ET If you would like to join them to support us by looking at our website

18 April 2020 Bulletin BING Caption Competition winner is announced This is air traffic control you re both cleared for take off Congratulations to Andrew Crocker for his winning caption chosen by the IAT Council He is now the proud owner of an IAT hoodie and polo shirt

Bulletin April 2020 19 Reproduced by courtesy of AALAS Making a difference on Monkey Island by Liz Rozanski BA After the hurricane Cayo landscapes were barren and devoid of vegetation W hen Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017 the island of Cayo Santiago was also devastated Cayo Santiago Cayo Santiago s freeranging rhesus macaque colony has been instrumental in increasing our understanding of many facets of nonhuman and human primate development behaviour physiology and sociality When Gail Heidbrink Thompson heard about groups travelling to assist with recovery efforts she wanted to go Gail is a past AALAS president 2004 and was the first female technician to be elected to that role I have volunteered for many things but this was the most rewarding 10 days I ve experienced It was well worth it she commented Gail learned about the Project Monkey Island opportunity through Steve Schapiro Schapiro is currently organising the 6th trip to Monkey Island for volunteers willing to help with efforts on Cayo Santiago and on the mainland in Punta Santiago The initiative is called The 3Rs for the CPRC or Rebuild

20 April 2020 Bulletin Recover and Revitalise the Caribbean Primate Research Centre and is organised by the International Primatological Society Word of Mouth Productions and Primatologists Without Borders Groups typically make the trip twice a year once in December January and then again in June July Gail explained that volunteers split their time between Monkey Island and Punta Santiago It is about a 10minute boat ride from Punta Santiago out to Monkey Island depending on the weather Tree cages help in reforestation efforts by protecting seedings from the monkeys Several projects are underway but two of the main efforts involve building barriers for erosion control and systematic reforestation of the island Reforestation is harder than it sounds as the goal of the humans is to reforest while the monkeys are more interested in deforestation Before the hurricane hit Cayo Santiago s forest was a lush habitat for the island s When the island took a direct monkey colony hit from the hurricane most of the vegetation was destroyed Even two years later much of the vegetation is still missing Efforts to reforest involve planting seedling trees bushes and grasses in small cages to protect them from the monkeys Erosion control efforts involve constructing physical dams using fallen trees to mitigate washouts The monkeys rely heavily on caregivers to provide monkey chow every day as foraging opportunities have been diminished by the hurricane damage Gail noted that approximately 40 10 kg bags of chow are distributed to the 1 800 monkeys on the island each day

Bulletin April 2020 21 Volunteers help with assorted tasks including painting cleaning debris clearing construction work and even hair braiding human not monkey Gail explained that there is a job for everyone and with the tropical climate being able to braid hair came in handy in helping other volunteers cope with the temperatures Gail explained that volunteers are provided detailed lists on what to pack for the experience immunisations needed and knowledge required to work on Monkey Island If anyone is interested in learning more they can visit Project Monkey Island s website at projectmonkeyisland org or look for them on Facebook she said Liz Rozanski BA is the Communications Manager at AALAS in Memphis TN Structures on Cayo were devastated by the hurricane and one that has been rebuilt is a new corral for the monkeys

22 April 2020 Bulletin North East England AGM T he NEE Branch AGM was held on 12th February at the University of Sheffield The AGM meeting was preceded by two excellent speakers Dr Ross Gillanders a Senior Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews and Jody Gordon Director and Consultant of Animal Welfare at the Animal Welfare Consultancy Ltd Dr Gillanders opened the meeting with his talk on bees and explosives He explained that there are an estimated 110 million landmines across 64 countries worldwide These are currently detected by various methods some of which are not ideal for all terrains However he went on to describe a method which has been developed where honey bees electrostatically collect particles from the air in their foraging areas used in conjunction with organic based explosive vapour sensing films preconcentration strips Once placed at the entrance to the beehive these are used as a passive explosive sensing mechanism The explosive material is transferred to these strips and scraped off The trained bees are followed using a drone equipped with HD and

Bulletin April 2020 First speaker Dr Gillanders introducing his talk on bees and explosives Slide illustrating a typical landmine 23

24 April 2020 The entrance to the hives where explosive residue can be collected Bulletin

April 2020 The bees depositing the explosive material onto the collection point Bulletin 25

26 April 2020 Jody Gordon introducing himself to the AGM Bulletin

Bulletin April 2020 27 thermal cameras and the captured footage is processed to confirm the location of the mines The bees can be trained to actively search for the smell of the explosives and the most visited places point to suspicious areas where landmines may be set Dr Gillanders concluded his talk by stating that the long term plan is to offer a service to take trained honey bees to minefields to detect explosives using native bees within that country The second speaker of the evening Jody Gordon was the next to present on Welfare Issues in a Production Environment Jody is the Director and Consultant of the Animal Welfare Consultancy Ltd AWC The AWC offers expert animal welfare advice to companies productions live events and many others responsible for looking after animals to help improve the lives of the animals Jody worked for the RSPCA for 18 years as a Special Operations Unit Inspector investigating serious and organised animal cruelty and in his role has developed and co written RSPCA Guidelines for the welfare of performing animals has investigated a number of circuses talked with DEFRA s working party to develop legislation on licensing wild animals in circuses and played a major role in re homing the last circus elephant in the UK Jody went on to explain that there was no guidance for people to follow for productions and entertainment purposes using animals However guidelines were subsequently produced in 2008 but these proved to be unworkable and were rewritten and relaunched in 2012 A second set of guidelines is due to be published Jody was involved in the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony where 100 sheep and cows were in the stadium Advice was given regarding the welfare of these animals and as a result of this advice significant changes were made regarding animal welfare issues including the provision of suitable accommodation and the banning of wooden boards for the horses which could have proved dangerous Examples were given regarding animals used in television programmes and Jody highlighted that although health and safety was covered in production animal distress was not usually dealt with on film sets resulting in the requirement for several lengthy takes All Creatures Great and Small was an example where 40 years ago all animals were sedated on set to simulate ill health however this is not the case today and stress is less likely to occur as a result

28 April 2020 Bulletin Jody summarised to say that whereas the UK has the highest welfare system there can be issues if production want to work overseas where animal welfare may not be as high Hopefully changes will occur and he would like to see a system where better checks are made on welfare of animals Both talks were extremely interesting and thought provoking and everyone who attended enjoyed them Thanks and appreciation go to Rachel and Joanne for organising this meeting and to all the attendees that made the night successful and informative Cathy Godfrey Branch Reporter AGM audience

30 April 2020 Bulletin Oxford 10th Winter Symposium O n the 20th February UKRI MRC Harwell hosted our 10th Oxford Winter Symposium The talks incorporated professionals such as veterinary surgeons researchers and technicians with five speakers in total and are a way of recognising and celebrating a range of professional knowledge We had great support from industry colleagues including Agenda MMM Envigo AWS Datesand Indoor Biotechnologies IPS Marshall BioResources and Allentown who were all able to be part of our trade area We also had special guests AS ET who spoke briefly before lunch about the work they do helping fund technicians further education and ways in which technicians attending the symposium can benefit from AS ET in the future The first speaker was Lorna Fiedler with her talk Medaka fish Oryzias latipes An important overview on medaka fish both husbandry and scientific use It highlighted the progression of knowledge of care anaesthesia and the science A slide from Lorna Fiedler s presentation behind the use of these fascinating fish A focal point of the talk and what received a great deal of response was the refinement work Lorna has carried out regarding anaesthesia recovery and the adjustments needed to surgical procedures when compared to the baseline knowledge they had with zebrafish

Bulletin April 2020 31 Second to speak was Sara Sara s presentation Rohling giving an eloquent presentation which belied it was her first She spoke about her experiences working with macaques as an Animal Technician and addressed many aspects connected to improving and retaining welfare She went into detail regarding desirable and undesirable behaviours and the difficulties the Animal Technicians have to face especially as each macaque has a unique personality The macaques housed at Oxford have been monitored regarding stress levels across 10 days 5 days before and 5 days after the procedures by looking at cortisol levels in the faeces It was comforting to discover that the stress levels seem to lower a great deal in just 6 7 days They still need to do a statistical analysis of the data collected but it was really interesting hearing about such a complicated and intelligent species and the way in which technicians are getting involved in better understanding their stress response During the buffet lunch there was much discussion reflecting on the previous speeches Questions included Are the Peter Oliver correct species always being used Could the ways in which stress is identified in macaques be used for other animals Are there ways in which the Animal Technicians identify stress in macaques could be used for other animals And what enrichments limit stress

32 April 2020 Bulletin Next Peter Oliver presented Spontaneous mutants leading to new human disease models the value of the mouse Peter spoke about the important gene research carried out at UKRI MRC Harwell which has proved critical in neurodevelopment epilepsy and neurodegeneration in humans What really captured people s attention was the link he had with a researcher looking at the same mutation as him but in plants and the way that has helped better understand the gene OXR1 Liane Hobson The fourth speaker was Liane Hobson Her presentation was Noise in animal facilities what aren t we hearing Where she discussed the noise levels discovered within the Mary Lyon Centre animal unit and the potential effects of this The underlying tone of this talk was Are we doing enough There are a lot of ways that frequencies we cannot hear could be affecting animal s cardiovascular system creating tinnitus and disrupting their own communication Liane and the team she works with are doing ongoing sound surveys aiming at coming to some concrete evidence as to the impact of ultrasound

Bulletin Rounding off the day was Chris Trower talking about The development of veterinary surgery Chris spoke about life as a vet and how veterinary surgery has developed He began by talking about the history of humans and animals and where our relationships have grown Chris also spoke about the research and veterinary practices he has been a part of concentrating his focus on farm animals From cattle with metabolic chambers to the importance of poultry in the creation of vaccines He captivated the audience with comedy and his years of veterinary knowledge April 2020 33 Chris Trower s presentation Some final closing remarks were given by Adrian Woodhouse our branch Chair about the upcoming events the Oxford branch have planned including Technician of the Year and the Spring Quiz He also included the larger events such as the IAT AS ET gala dinner and Tech Month Everyone at the event had a raffle token attached to their itinerary which were drawn at the end of the symposium Prizes ranged from bottles of wine to boxes of chocolates A big thanks to all the speakers for their informative presentations and UKRI MRC Harwell for hosting such a successful event Thank you also to Sara Wells for taking the time to Chair our 10th annual symposium Reporter Annie Phillips Brookes

34 April 2020 Bulletin Herts and Essex Branch Closure At the AGM we formally closed this branch of the IAT This decision has not been taken lightly however there was nobody willing to take on the roles of Chair and Secretary and coupled with a decreasing number of people attending events we felt we have no option but to close Over the nine years of this Branch we have run some great events with good attendance and the committee thank all of our members for attending and helping with events We have also had some great sponsorship and support from many suppliers and wanted to thank you all for this No Branch can run without your help and we really have found it invaluable A special thank you to David Spillane who has been our brilliant Quizmaster for a number of years now We will all miss the quizzes the most We urge our members to contact and join other Branches and really consider attending events to support those Branches Finally we want to say a big thank you to the IAT for the support they have given us over the years and our committee members will be joining new Branches soon Reporter Jo Moore

Bulletin April 2020 35 DIARY Dates Events Dates subject to change due to the current quarantine situation and possible ongoing restrictions 20 May Irish Branch Symposium Dublin Details irelandiatsec gmail com 21 November AS ET IAT Celebratory Ball London Details Elaine LBS biotech com 20 May Tecniplast IVC Knowledge Skills Refresher Course England Details info tecniplastuk com 1st June 2020 AAALAC Fellowship Award Closing date Details See page 14 22 23 June LASA Transgenics Forum London Details https www lasa co uk lasa meetings Front cover Ferrets at Oxford Photo Michael Truby