Animal Care Unit

The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a leading research university, committed to ensuring the humane care and use of animals in research and teaching.

Management Structure and Accountability

The Animal Care Unit (ACU) of UWA is part of Research Services, an academic service directorate of the Registrar’s Office. The Unit is accountable to the Animal Ethics Committee (AEC) for all welfare associated issues and to the Board of Animal Facilities for financial management.

Locations

There are five facilities located across three sites.

Two facilities are on the Crawley Campus, the larger one catering for agricultural animals and a smaller, limited facility for the housing of rodents. One facility is located at QE11 for the housing of mice, rats and rabbits of known health status. Two facilities are located at Shenton Park including a field station for the external housing of agricultural and native species, and the Biomedical Research Facility for housing of mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs of known health status.

ACU administrative staff are located at both Research Services UWA and the Biomedical Research Facility Shenton Park.

Compliance

The ACU is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of husbandry and care through the recruitment of well-trained and committed staff with high professional standards and integrity. UWA is committed to achieving high quality research.

Policies and Standard Operating Procedures comply with the requirements of Western Australian State legislation and The Australian Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes, AQIS and OGTR.