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The recently published CCAC guidelines: Categories of welfare impact acknowledges that the welfare of animals used in science can be impacted in diverse ways, and describes how expected welfare impacts to animals should be determined and summarized into a descriptive category, and then confirmed retrospectively. This session will explore the details of the new guidelines, how they work together with other guidelines documents, including animal welfare assessment and endpoints, and their vision for improving animal welfare. This will be followed by a general discussion and Q&A.

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For several years, fish have figured in the top three most used animals in Canadian science. Unfortunately, they are also at the centre of many animal welfare incidents. Fish welfare extends far beyond the wellbeing of the fish themselves; increasing fish welfare is also a critical part of reliable and reproducible science. This session will focus on best practices related to maintaining a healthy aquatic environment and help participants understand the stressors that affect fish so that they may ensure the highest standards of care for fish welfare. This will be followed by a general discussion and Q&A.

The CCAC guidelines: Animal welfare assessment was developed based on the recognition that animals used for scientific purposes should have good welfare, which is characterized by maximizing animals’ positive experiences while minimizing their negative ones. This approach to ensuring good welfare is already at the core of many existing practices including formal welfare assessments. This session will explore the details of the 2021 guidelines and discuss the implementation of animal welfare assessment in research, teaching, and testing. This will be followed by a general discussion and Q&A.