Wildlife Care Committee

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

The WCC members will review the application make sure 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 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 WCC can request further information from the investigator or meet with the investigator to make sure all members of the committee understand the procedures to be used when handling wildlife.

Committee members forward their review and comments to the committee Chair, who will document all WCC comments and recommendations on an 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:

• Approved
• Approved with conditions  
• Not recommended for approval
• Insufficient information for 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.

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 WCC Wildlife Handling Report Form each year before field work is continued. 

The WCC will review the completed Wildlife Handling Report Form successful applicants are required to submit on completion of a project or on an annual basis for continuing projects.  

The 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 make recommendations to either alter or discontinue the research.
• investigate third party reports of animal suffering, injuries, mortalities or other negative impacts during research or other animal handling projects.

If you are planning any significant changes, you must submit a new application for review. 

In the case of continuing projects, the WCC must review any modifications to a previously approved protocol before changes are implemented.

Your appeal must be made in writing to the Director of Wildlife, Environment and Climate Change.

The 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.

All investigators proposing studies that involve the handling of wildlife should make sure 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.
• 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--for example, 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 and additional experts as appropriate.
• You must submit an annual progress report to the NWT-WCC, and home institution ACC if applicable. 

All field work that involves close human interaction with wildlife can increase transmission of disease between human and animals. Known examples include the transmission of white nose syndrome to bats, chytrid fungus to amphibians, or COVID-19 to mustelids and large cats.  Some wildlife diseases, such as rabies, can also be transmitted from animals to humans.

As the Wildlife Care Committee shares an interest in the conservation, health, and welfare of our wildlife populations in the NWT, avoiding transmission of new and emerging pathogens to wildlife is a priority. 

As part of the application process, all applicants for a Wildlife Handling Permit are required to describe the steps they intend to take to minimize disease exposure to wildlife.

All researchers are encouraged to follow best practices:

• Minimize handling of wildlife where possible (e.g. collect environmental samples)
• Assess whether you need to handle wildlife. Is there a chance you or your field equipment have been exposed to a zoonotic pathogen, or do you have symptoms?
• Protect wildlife and yourself by adopting practices such as wearing a mask and using decontamination protocols to reduce exposure

Resources

The following guidance documents are provided as examples of steps researchers can take to minimize transmission of infectious diseases between people and wildlife.

• Guidelines for Working with Free-Ranging Wild Mammals in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic 
• Canadian National White-nose Syndrome Decontamination Protocol 
• Decontamination Protocol for Field Work with Amphibians and Reptiles in Canada
• Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative Covid-19 Information
• Recommended Strategy for Researchers to Reduce the Risk of Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from Humans to Bat

• Application to Handle Wildlife
• Wildlife Handling Report

The following Annual Reports of Wildlife Research in the NWT summarize wildlife research done under permits issued for a given year:

• 2008
• 2009 
• 2010
• 2011
• 2012
• 2013
• 2014

NWT Wildlife Care Committee Terms of Reference.

• NWT Wildlife Care Committee Standard Operating Procedures - Background Information
• NWT Wildlife Care Committee Standard Operating Procedures - Caribou
• NWT Wildlife Care Commmittee Standard Operating Procedures - Bear
• NWT Wildlife Care Commmittee Standard Operating Procedures - Wolf
• NWT Wildlife Care Commmittee Standard Operating Procedures - Wood Bison

• Guidelines on the Care and Use of Wildlife
• Guide to the Care and Use of Experimental Animals
• Ethics of Investigations
• Categories of Invasiveness

• Wildlife Research Permit (NWT)
• Bird Banding Permit
• NWT Scientific Research License

• International Society for Infectious Diseases
• Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative
• Canadian Association of Zoo & Wildlife Veterinarians

• Safe Capture International
• Global Wildlife Resources Inc
• Parawild