Teachers – Apply for Animal Ethics approval online

You must apply for approval before beginning your work. Please select which of the 2024 Committee meetings you would like your application to be considered at. Please ensure your application is submitted at least 2 weeks before the committee date:

In special circumstances the Committee may consider projects at other times.

Intended dates of investigation - maximum 3-years

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Completing the application form

You must email the Committee animalethicseommitee@nzase.org as soon as your investigation dates are confirmed each year. This allows planned monitoring of a selection of projects, a requirement of the Committee’s Code of Conduct under the Animal Welfare Act.

Ethical and welfare issues surrounding any teaching activity involving animals must be considered. The principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement, known as the 3Rs, should guide your activity planning

• Replacement where possible animals should be replaced by, for example, models, software, or videos
• Reduction use no more than the minimum number of animals necessary - reducing the number of animals, however, should not be at the expense of greater suffering of individual animals
• Refinement activities must be streamlined to minimise handling, discomfort, distress or pain in animals

Please include additional material (e.g., handouts provided to students, diagrams or photographs of any caging or devices used). The Committee need this information to understand and approve your project.

If your project involves catching, or obtaining the eggs, dead bodies or parts, of any native mammals, birds (except game birds), reptiles or amphibians, or bush and ground wetas, ground or carab beetles, Nelson cave spiders, snails, black and red coral, or spotted black groper, you need to get a permit from the Department of Conservation (www.doc.govt.nz/) and may need to consult with local iwi. A permit may also be required to remove native species from National Parks or Reserves. Please attach a copy of any permits required.

For information on how to look after the animals in your class project see the booklet “Caring for Animals” Caring-for-animals-in-the-classroom

Application for ethical approval for investigation/project involving live animals

Where will you obtain the animals from.
• • How the animals will be obtained/collected.
• • How the animals will be transported. Please also explain how they will be contained/caged in transit.
• • Where will the animals be kept.
• • How the animals will be cared for, including housing, feeding, cleaning and weekend care.
• • How the investigations will be conducted (i.e. the methodology).
• • Identify any risks to the health or well-being of the animals as a result of the investigation.
• • Identify how any risks to the health or well-being of the animals will be minimized or avoided.
• • How you will care for any animals that become unwell or distressed.
• • How will animals be dealt with at the end of the investigation e.g., kept in or returned to their original environment, returned to a similar environment, (please explain where) or kept elsewhere (please explain where). If the animals need to be killed at the end of the project, explain why this is necessary, how this will be done humanely, and who will undertake it and what experience have they with the procedure.
• • How your investigation design has considered the ‘three Rs’

After your investigation

After your investigation is completed each year, you must complete a Statistics Form detailing: Statistics Form covering:

✓ what animals were used

✓ how many were used

✓ what happened to them after the project.

This information is required by the Ministry of Primary Industries for annual reporting. Short video evidence of the investigation should be emailed to the Animal Ethics Committee.

Failure to return a statistics return within a month of completing the investigation may jeopardise your existing approval.