Agricultural animals may serve either in biomedical or in food and fiber research. Although the Animal Welfare Act only covers the former situation, the same ethical principles of appropriate oversight apply to both. As with other areas of animal research, ensuring the proper training and qualifications of the individuals working with agricultural animals for use in research, teaching, and testing is critical to both animal welfare and the successful outcome of the study or teaching exercise. Underwood provides guidance in the development of appropriate training programs for organizations that use agricultural animals in research. See
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Endotracheal intubation of rats is often necessary for lengthy survival surgeries, but may be complicated by the animal's small size and lack of suitable equipment. It is possible to adapt instruments used in other species, but these are usually expensive and are not always readily available. Ordodi et al. describe the construction and use of a simple device for the easy intubation of rats, requiring no expensive, specialized equipment. See
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