This application from California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) located on the University of California (UC), Davis campus seeks to obtain federal funding in the amount of $895,800 through the Limited Competition: Extramural Research Facilities Improvement Program (C06) to construct overhead structures on four half-acre field corrals. The CNPRC has 24 half-acre field corrals that provide housing for the rhesus monkey breeding colony. Each of these field corrals houses approximately 150 animals. These animals are a long-term breeding resource and serve as a national resource for infants, juveniles, adults, and aged animals for use in biomedical research by investigators from throughout the United States. Twenty of the existing field cages at the CNPRC already have overhead structures to protect the animals from the heat in the summer and the rain in the winter. The proposed four field corrals were built in 2009 to expand production of animals for AIDS-related research and are in need of overhead structures. This project will construct four free-standing 19'high steel-frame canopy covers (similar to patio structures) over approximately one-quarter of a corresponding half-acre field corral, or 540 square feet. The structure will include steel framing, metal roofing, and concrete footings.
The specific aims of the proposed project are to: enhance animal well-being and AIDS investigator access to healthy research animals;provide animals a dry area for eating and shelter from the rain in the winter and shade in the summer;address concerns that the lack of overhead structures could be a potential animal welfare concern;provide veterinary and technical staff a dry area to conduct routine animal health procedures and behavioral health assessments.
