• H Hackbarth.
• Institut für Tierschutz und Verhalten (Heim-, Labortiere und Pferde), Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover.
• Deut Tierarztl Woch. 2002 Mar 1; 109 (3): 109-11.

AbstractAnimal experiments according to section 7-9 of the German animal welfare act underlie governmental inspection. Generally this inspection is taken over by the veterinary offices of the cities and districts. During the inspection of animal experiments, which have to be licensed or announced according to section 8 or 8a respectively, the main focus should be the observance of the license presumptions and conditions, the knowledge of the experimenter and the necessity of recordings. For this task specialized knowledge in laboratory animal science of the inspection office is a necessary presupposition for the effectiveness and acceptance of the inspection. As this inspection can only be spot-checking it should be done in a close and collegial cooperation with the animal welfare officer of the experimental institution. The animal welfare officer has the necessary knowledge and knows the institutional conditions, especially the time scheme, which are necessary for an effective inspection of animal experiments. Without the participation and cooperation with the animal welfare officer the inspection office runs the risk not to recognize certain interrelations, but also to give way to wrong descriptions. It is very difficult especially during the inspection of institutions, where many research groups perform animal experiments to get and to keep an overview, without not noticing important details or focussing on certain details, while others are taken no notice of. The primary goal of the inspection of animal experiments should be: 1. to understand the research goal and the methods used 2. to ask with scientific background for the purpose of research and the experimental design 3. to judge the applied experimental methods in respect to animal welfare aspects 4. to improve the animal experimentation by discussion with the experimenter Does the inspection office succeed to be accepted as a competent partner by the experimenter as well as by the animal welfare officer, the inspection of animal experiments itself as well as the achievement of refinement for practical animal welfare is more easy and more effective than a simple bureaucratic control.

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