NWT Wildlife Care Committee

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What is the NWT-Wildlife Care Committee? 

Does the NWT-WCC need to review your project? 

Submitting an Application to Handle Wildlife to the NWT-WCC

How will your application be reviewed?

Notification of a Recommendation 

How long is the approval of your protocol valid? 

Annual Review Process 

Making modifications to an approved protocol 

Appealing a recommendation made by the NWT-WCC 

Access to NWT-WCC records 

Responsibilities of Investigators

Tips for Researchers

What is the NWT-Wildlife Care Committee?

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) has set up a Wildlife Care Committee (NWT-WCC) to ensure the safe and humane treatment of wildlife in the NWT. Members of the committee include specialists in wildlife handling and research.

One of the roles of the NWT-WCC is to review and recommend approval of the wildlife handling protocols used in wildlife research.

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Does the NWT-WCC need to review your project?

Any person or organization applying for a Wildlife Research Permit, where the study involves the handling of vertebrates other than fish, must also submit an Application to Handle Wildlife to the Chair of the NWT-WCC. The Application to Handle Wildlife includes a detailed description of all planned animal handling activities that must be reviewed by the NWT-WCC. Even if your project has already been approved by another government, university or institutional animal care committee, it must still be reviewed by the NWT-WCC before you can carry out any research in the NWT involving the handling of wildlife. See Responsibilities of Investigators for more information on doing research involving the handling of wildlife in the NWT.

See Tips for Researchers for more information on how to design studies that will reduce impacts on handled wildlife.

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Submitting an Application to Handle Wildlife to the NWT-WCC You should submit an “Application to Handle Wildlife” to the Chair of the GNWT-WCC. See Current Members for contact information. All Forms are available at the NWT-WCC Information Center web-page. Completed applications can be mailed, faxed or emailed. The Application to Handle Wildlife protocol form should be presented in addition to information required for a Wildlife Research Permit.

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How will your application be reviewed?

The members of the NWT-WCC will review and assess all Applications to Handle Wildlife within 14 working days of receiving the application.

The NWT-WCC members will review the application to ensure that all proposed procedures comply with the Guidelines on the Care and Use of Wildlife and the Guide to the Care and Use of Experimental Animals developed by the Canadian Council on Animal Care, and with NWT-WCC Standard Operating Procedures. If the proposed protocol varies from those guidelines, justification for the variance on scientific grounds will be required.

Where necessary, the Committee can request further information from the investigator or meet with the investigator to ensure all members of the committee understand the procedures to be used when handling wildlife.

Copies of Guidelines and Procedures are available on the NWT-WCC Information Center web-page.

Committee members forward their review and comments to the committee Chair, who will document all NWT- WCC comments and recommendations on a individual Protocol Review Form.

The Committee Chair provides to the authority issuing the Wildlife Research Permit a recommendation on whether the Application to Handle Wildlife should be: a) Approved b) Approved with changes d) Rejected

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Notification of a Recommendation

The Committee Chair will send a letter with a copy of the Protocol Review Form to the main investigator. Please, keep your approved Protocol Review on file for at least five (5) years. Refer to the approval protocol review in each subsequent application for a Wildlife Research Permit that uses the same animal handling protocols.

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How long is the approval of your protocol valid?

Your approved protocol is valid for the duration of your project. However, it must be reviewed annually. The main investigator must complete and forward a NWT-WCC Wildlife Handling Report Form each year before field work is continued.

All Forms are available at the NWT-WCC Information Centre web-page.

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Annual Review Process The NWT-WCC will review the completed Wildlife Handling Report Form that successful applicants are required to submit on completion of a project or on an annual basis for continuing projects. All Forms are available at the NWT-WCC Information Centre web-page.

The NWT-WCC may, once a project has been approved and is underway:

• Recommend to the authority issuing the Wildlife Research Permit that any objectionable procedure be stopped if the committee considers unnecessary pain or distress is being experienced by the animal;
• Recommend to the authority issuing the Wildlife Research Permit the immediate termination of use of animals which deviates from the approved proposal, if it causes pain and distress to such animals;
• Review the circumstances of any animal fatalities or injuries during animal handling projects as reported by the investigator, and investigate further as required; and
• Investigate third party reports of animal suffering during research or other animal handling projects.

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Making modifications to an approved protocol If any significant changes are planned, the applicant must submit a new Application to Handle Wildlife for review. In the case of continuing projects, the NWT - WCC must review any modifications to a previously approved protocol before the changes are implemented.

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Appealing a recommendation made by the NWT-WCC

Your appeal must be made in writing to the Director of Wildlife, ENR.

The NWT- WCC will consider appeals to recommendations on the request of the Director of Wildlife, who may ask the Committee to reconsider an application in light of any new information provided by the applicant. The Director of Wildlife may also send the appeal to an independent expert for advice.

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Access to NWT-WCC records

The NWT-WCC maintains records on each Application to Handle Wildlife, and keeps a copy of all documents associated with the application, review and recommendation process on file for at least five (5) years.

Any investigator can have access at any time to his/her own application records. A request for these records must be made in writing to the Director of Wildlife, ENR.

Any proprietary data included in these report forms will not be published or publicly presented without the prior written consent of the primary investigator.

See Current Members for contact information.

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Responsibilities of Investigators

All Investigators proposing studies that involve the handling of wildlife should ensure that:

• The capture and handling of wildlife is necessary and will contribute to the understanding of biological principles or to outcomes that can be expected to benefit the animals and the ecosystems they belong to.
• The proposed work has undergone peer review to assure it is of scientific merit, and the experimental design is appropriate.
• The proposed work has undergone community consultation to ensure it addresses the concerns of local communities and is sensitive to cultural views.
• All projects involving the use of wildlife for research are described within a protocol. Protocols must be approved by the NWT Wildlife Care Committee (NWT-WCC) prior to start of a project.
• Where work is to be conducted in a geographical location outside the jurisdiction of the home institution of the principal investigator, the Animal Care Committee (ACC) of the home institution carries the overall responsibility for the work, and a well-defined arrangement for monitoring the proposed project and the welfare of animals is agreed upon between the ACC of the home institution and the NWT-WCC before the project begins.
• Investigators are responsible for their own conduct, as well as the conduct of all other personnel involved in the investigators’ studies.
• For projects involving endangered or threatened species, or species of special concern, the protocol meets the requirements of protective legislation, including the federal Species at Risk Act and the NWT Wildlife Act.
• Although field operations often require some flexibility, depending on a number of factors including environmental conditions, procedures employed remain humane and meet the requirements of the experimental design. Further, investigators must be able to justify any changes to their animal handling protocol.
• Contingency plans are in place to address chance occurrences that threaten animal or human safety. Contingency plans may include terminating the investigation, either temporarily or permanently.
• For species or special procedures (e.g., long-distance translocation, captive breeding) where standard operating procedures are not available, specific animal handling protocols are developed with the consultation and participation of a wildlife veterinarian (that is, a licensed veterinarian with demonstrated expertise in the capture and handling of wildlife).

Find more information on Standard Operating Procedures here.

An annual progress report is submitted to the NWT-WCC, and home institution ACC if applicable.

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Tips for Researchers

Procedures likely to have lasting negative effects on an individual or population, or to affect the existence of a population, should not be undertaken, except under extraordinary circumstances. When such impacts are likely, the investigator must demonstrate, through the concurrence of recognized experts, that the procedure is necessary.

Animals should not be handled at times when they may be more sensitive to distress, e.g., late pregnancy.

Field research involving manipulation of wildlife for experimental studies requires that investigators use the fewest animals and the least invasive practical procedures required to achieve the study objectives. In many cases, the "fewest animals" is the minimum number of animals that an a posteriori statistical power analysis indicates is necessary to meet the research objectives.

Observational activities should minimize disturbance that can lead to abandonment of home ranges, pre-emption of feeding, disruption of social structures, or alteration of predator-prey relationships.

Every effort must be made to minimize distress and ensure the post-handling survival of the animals by selecting the most appropriate method(s) of capture, handling, and release.

Use of drugs for the immobilization of wildlife should be done in compliance with the Policy/Directives/Guidelines on Wildlife Immobilization Drug Use in the NWT-ENR Operations Manual.

Researchers conducting field studies should anticipate and be prepared to deal with the range of conditions that may cause undue stress or injury to an animal. This may require terminating field studies, either temporarily or permanently, because of mounting concern for animal or human safety.

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