In 1961, the Committee on Animal Care of the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies (CFBS) prepared a one-page placard
outlining "Guiding Principles for the Care of Experimental Animals". These principles were quickly approved by most national
scientific associations and, despite their brevity, addressed essentially the same basic principles of animal care embodied in this
2nd Edition of Volume 1 of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) Guide to the Care and Use of Experimental Animals.
The hundreds of pages of information contained in the current two volumes of the Guide represent steps in the evolution of efforts
by the CCAC to provide the means by which the use of animals in research, teaching and testing in Canada can be performed in
accord with basic principles of humane treatment.
The CCAC is deeply indebted to the many veterinarians, animal care employees, humane society members, administrators,
scientists, and others who have willingly contributed time and expertise to its programs and projects. This edition of Volume 1 of
the Guide is only one example of the many CCAC-directed activities that owe their existence and success to the tremendous
generosity and good will of these Canadians. Their broad participation in animal welfare is one of the most important, and least-
recognized, merits of the non-legislated, participatory, peer review system employed in Canada.