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Office of Research Services (ORS)

Photographing research animals

Guiding principles

  1. Get the permission of the instructor or principal investigator (PI) before taking any images of research or teaching animals.
  2. Do not post images to social media/sharing sites.

Before taking images

  1. Get the permission of the instructor or PI before taking any images of research or teaching animals.
  2. Ensure what you are going to image has been approved in an Animal Use Protocol (AUP).
  3. Identify the room where the images will be taken – behavioural or procedure rooms are preferred to housing rooms.
  4. Ensure the background area is clean and tidy.
  5. Ensure your imaging activities will not affect other animals or research projects.
  6. Use clean cages or enclosures for imaging, unless soiled cages or enclosures are important for the images.
  7. Check for signs or labels that might identify animals, locations or individuals and remove or obscure these for safety purposes .

Taking images

  1. Depict the procedures as described in the approved AUP.
  2. Ensure you are wearing the appropriate garments (e.g., personal protective equipment).
  3. Unless necessary, avoid flash photography or very bright lights to protect the animals from stress. 

Reviewing images

  1. Review the images with the instructor or PI to make sure that there are no unintended items in the background (e.g., individuals’ faces or name tags, legible cage cards, room numbers, locations, signs, etc.).
  2. Obscure any unintended identifiers if they are found.
  3. Do not post images to social media/sharing sites.