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West Virginia University Office of Animal Welfare
WVU Research Office

Training

Animal Care Training Starts Here

All personnel who work with or care for animals in research or teaching are federally mandated to demonstrate the skills and knowledge to properly care for and handle animals to ensure animal well-being and personnel safety.

Regulatory Occupational Animal Other

WVU is required to provide and to keep records of all persons taking animal care training.

Regulatory Training

Regulatory training for animal care and use at WVU is done through the CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) program and is required for all personnel who work with or care for animals in research or teaching, and any student enrolled in a course that uses live animals.

This training must be updated every three years (every five years for undergraduate students). Records of regulatory training are maintained by CITI and accessible by the Office of Animal Welfare.

CITI Login

Regulatory Training Instructions

  • Click on CITI login.
  • Login in via the CAS system/Duo Authentication.
  • You will see "West Virginia University" and a blue View Courses button. Click "View Courses" to see the courses you have enrolled in and/or already taken.
  • If the course(s) you need to take is/are not listed, click ‘Add a Course’ in the box at the bottom labeled “Learner Tools for West Virginia University”.
  • Answer questions on "Select Curriculum" page to enroll in courses, based on the work you will be performing.
  • Below are the minimum required courses:
    • Biomedical Principal Investigators and research staff
      • Question 3 - choose Biomedical Researchers without Surgery or Biomedical Researchers with Surgery, whichever is most directly related to the work you will be doing by adding a checkmark in the box associated with the course(s).
    • Agricultural Principal Investigators and research staff
      • Question 3 - choose "Agricultural Research and Teaching"
    • Behavioral Principal Investigators and research staff
      • Question 3 - choose "Behavioral Researchers"
    • Wildlife Principal Investigators and research staff
      • Question 3 - choose "Wildlife Research"
    • Animal Care Staff
      • Question 3 - choose the course(s) that most directly reflect your work (e.g. "Vivarium Workers" or "Agricultural Research and Teaching")
    • Undergraduate Students enrolled in classes using live animals
      • Question 3 - choose "Undergraduates/Students"

    • If you will be performing SURGERY, it is NOW REQUIRED to complete the "Aseptic Surgery" course, under Question 3.

    • ALL PERSONNEL added to an animal use protocol - select for Question 4 the course(s) that most directly represent ALL the animal species you will be working with, by adding a checkmark in the box associated with the course(s).
      • If you are enrolled in class(es) using live agricultural animals, you only need to complete "Agricultural zoonosis concerns" under Question 4.
      • If you are working with PIGEONS, please see below for information on species specific training.
  • Scroll to the bottom and click the ‘Submit’ button.
  • You should now see the course(s) that you added under "Courses Ready to Begin".
  • Click each course name and complete the course(s).
If you have previously completed CITI courses at another institution, contact the OAW staff if you need assistance in linking them to your WVU profile, via "add an affiliation".

Pigeon - species training modules

  • Working with pigeons: 
    • Make sure you are enrolled in the CITI course: Behavioral Researchers
    • Complete the supplemental module "Training for the use of laboratory pigeons"

Occupational Health Questionnaire

Anyone working with animals in any setting is required to complete the Occupational Health Questionnaire, which needs to be updated on an ANNUAL BASIS. Records of occupational health clearance are maintained by WVU Occupational Medicine.

Occupational Health Questionnaire

Visit the Occupational Health Questionnaire and complete the form. If you receive a notice that you are NOT cleared for animal contact, please call WVU Occupational Medicine at (304) 293-3693 OR call Well WVU (Student Health) (304) 293-2311 if you are a student.

Animal Facility Training

All animal users and caretakers who enter central animal facilities with Office of Laboratory Animal Resources (OLAR) oversight must receive facility training by the Director or assigned staff of the facility.

Contact OLAR

This includes Health Sciences Center, Life Science Building, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, or Farm Animal Research Facility. Records of facility training are maintained by OLAR.

Visit the OLAR website for their training schedule and instructions, under "Training & Education". If you have further questions, contact OLAR at (304) 293-3737 or OLARtraining@hsc.wvu.edu.


Hands-On Training

Species-specific and Procedure-specific

All animal users and caretakers are required to have appropriate training for the handling and husbandry of the species used, as relevant to the nature of the animal use and specific procedures that they will be performing on/with animals.

This training may be provided by veterinary staff, animal care staff, course instructor or Principal Investigator/laboratory staff, as appropriate. 

Training records for all personnel with regards to protocol/procedure specific training and species-specific should be maintained by the PI/supervisor/lab and be easily accessible.

We have two templates that can be used or modified for the purposes of maintaining protocol/procedure specific training (please note that BOTH are not needed, you can choose what works best for you):

Additional Training as Necessary

Additional training, such as biohazard training, radiation safety training or chemical safety training, may be required depending the nature of your animal work. Please contact the appropriate office for more information:

Biosafety Training Radiation Safety Training Environmental and Safety Training