Correction: The printed version of this story notes that 30,000 rodents and a number of monkeys were evacuated into the William H. Foege building. Only the rodents were evacuated; no monkeys were moved to the Foege building.

The Daily regrets this error.

The UW has been put on probation by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) for serious ventilation, lighting and sanitation problems within one of the school's older animal research facilities.

Last June, AAALAC performed the inspection and informed officials of the deficiencies.

In November of 2006, the organization sent UW a lengthy report on the state of its facilities and revealed the faults in detail.

The UW has until May 1 to come up with a formal plan for regaining accreditation in the form of a letter.

"The University has to decide if it can afford to fix the building ... or whether we start the conversation, which is a long-term conversation, about how we really need to eventually replace this building with a new facility to house animals," said John Coulter, executive director for the UW's health sciences administration.

When the UW does inform AAALAC of its efforts and plan of action, a committee may decide to restore full accreditation, to extend probation or to revoke accreditation altogether if it not satisfied with the UW's progress.

"Large complex organizations like the University of Washington find it far more difficult [to maintain accreditation] just because of their sheer volume and complexity," said AAALAC Executive Director John Miller. "I think [revoking the UW's accreditation] is pretty unlikely given what the University is already doing."

Accreditation is seen as the gold standard for animal care, and losing it may mean a significant cut in research funds.

AAALAC is an international, non-profit organization geared toward promoting the humane treatment of animals through a process of voluntary accreditation.

To maintain it, institutions agree to undergo a confidential "peer-review" every three years.

"We were one of the first institutions that gained AAALAC accreditation back in 1982 when the program was just starting," Coulter said. "We've never missed getting accredited, and we will remain accredited. Getting there is the issue."

When the UW discovered the problems, 30,000 rodents were evacuated at once into the much newer William H. Foege Building where they will stay for some time.

While the process of estimating costs in both short-term and long-term scenarios is underway, it is still not complete.

Officials say the price of working it into shape for accreditation may cost $20 million.

In fact, the costs would have been even higher, but the problems cited in AAALAC's report are not widespread.

"There's a main spine that goes right down the Health Sciences Center, it's a quarter of a mile long, and that's the [problematic] building that was built in 1947," Coulter said. "We have a number of facilities around the campus and South Lake Union where we are dealing with newer facilities. They didn't find the cleanliness problems there."

The UW received lavish ratings from AAALAC in regard to the state of the UW's newer medical facilities at Harborview Medical Center, Mercer Building, K-Wing, Roosevelt and the Center on Human Development and Disability.

The positives in the AAALAC report highlight the UW's level of veterinary leadership and care, excellent medical records, the level of facility maintenance and management observed within the fish facilities, the level of husbandry and facility maintenance at Harborview and the administrative operations of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

The University of Washington houses approximately 100,000 mice and rats, 700 primates and a small number of other animals. The wellbeing of the animals remains a top priority.

"We won't put those rodents back in this building until it's up to standard," Coulter said.

Reach reporter Maks Goldenshteyn at news@thedaily.washington.edu.