Veterinary medical educators are charged with preparing students to enter practice in veterinary medicine during a four-year, intensive, professional education program. This requires giving students in laboratory training that involves dead, anesthetized, or conscious animals, so that they become proficient in the expected range of veterinary knowledge, skills, and abilities. Undeniably, experience with animals is essential to prepare students for a profession in which animals comprise the total domain. However, the consumptive use of animals for teaching students, especially in laboratories, is increasingly subject to regulatory requirements, while also being scrutinized by animal protection groups, and has become a common focus of contention among veterinary students. Not surprisingly, the use of animals in teaching has sharply declined over the past few decades, as new teaching resources and methods, involving less consumptive use of animals, have been incorporated. This change in veterinary medical education has occurred on such a wide scale, in almost all veterinary schools and colleges, that the educational approach can serve as a model for further developments within the veterinary educational community and, indeed, for animal-related material in secondary schools and undergraduate higher education. This article highlights examples of the leadership provided by veterinary educators in developing alternative teaching resources and methods, while maintaining the high level of proficiency expected from traditional educational approaches.

To prepare students in just four years to enter veterinary practice, veterinary medical educators offer an array of laboratory and clinical experiences coordinated with didactic instruction. Recent curricular changes have reduced the numbers of animals involved in painful or terminal procedures. For each use of animals, veterinary educators are required by the USDA's policies 11 and 12 to complete animal-use protocols that include questions on alternatives to procedures causing more than momentary pain or distress. Veterinary medical educators seeking improved teaching resources and methods or completing animal-use protocols may find it frustrating to locate the relevant information, which is dispersed across many databases. This paper addresses a gap facing veterinary educators by presenting user-friendly searching tools that are targeted toward (a) locating teaching resources and (b) conducting effective bibliographic searches on standard teaching laboratory procedures, as required for animal-use protocols. These tools simplify searching by providing streamlined access to the resources being sought. Facilitating efficient and effective searching by users can improve teaching and simplify compliance with USDA requirements.

uses of animals in teaching for college, veterinary and medical education in the USA has sharply declined in recent decades. Economic disincentives and public discussions have diminished this use of animals, as well as the growing availability of alternative resources for teaching. In the USA, the use of live animals in teaching at the post-secondary level requires a protocol review similar to that used for research, whereas protocols are not required for the use of non-living specimens. Many outstanding alternatives have been created that supplant some uses of animals. Creating alternatives for a comprehensive biological or veterinary curriculum can best be addressed by a long-term commitment of leadership at the institutional level, leading to an incremental development of alternatives. Economic realities and the demonstration of educational results equal to, or exceeding that of the consumptive uses of animals support supplanting the more traditional methods. Committed leadership at the University of California, Davis, has facilitated the development of teaching tools and the mainstreaming of alternatives within the standard undergraduate and veterinary curriculum. The institutional culture supports these resources, and finding further solutions requiring less consumptive uses of animals. We introduce here a web-based tool providing improved access to these resources: www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/Animal_Alternatives/main.htm.

Researchers searching for alternatives to painful procedures that involve animals may find that the dispersed relevant literature and the array of databases make the search challenging and even onerous. This paper addresses a significant gap that exists for researchers, in identifying appropriate databases to use when searching for specific types of information on alternatives. To facilitate the efficient and effective searching by users, and to ensure compliance with new requirements and improved science, we initiate an evolving guide comprising search grids of database resources organised by animal models and topics (http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/Animal_Alternatives/databaseapproach.html). The search grids present organised lists of specific databases and other resources for each animal model and topic, with live links. The search grids also indicate resources that are freely available worldwide, and those that are proprietary and available only to subscribers. The search grids are divided into two categories: ‘animal models’ and ‘topics’. The category ‘animal models’ comprises: animal model selections; mice; rodents — rats/guinea pigs/hamsters; rabbits; dogs, cats; farm animals, sheep, swine; non-human primates; fish, frogs, aquatic; and exotics. The category ‘topics’ comprises: husbandry; behaviour; euthanasia; toxicity; monoclonal antibodies; teaching; endpoints; disease models; analgesia/anaesthesia; emerging technologies; strategies for specific intervention procedures; and standard operating procedures (for example, drawing blood, behavioural training, transportation, handling, restraint and identification). Users are provided with a selected list of linked resources relevant to their particular search. Starting with an appropriate database that covers the type of information that is being sought is the first step in conducting an effective search that can yield useful information to enhance animal welfare.

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