OLAC staff dedicated a memorial tree to the lives of laboratory animals at the all-staff meeting on September 22, 2004. The idea for this memorial began with OLAC staff and faculty members discussing the unique bond that researchers and animal care-givers develop with the animal subjects under their care.

The biomedical research community frequently acknowledges the significance of animals used in biomedical research but rarely recognizes individual animals. Those of us who work with and care for these animals spend weeks and sometimes years getting to know them as individuals. We strive to find a balance between caring deeply, thereby enriching the animals' lives, and letting go when the time inevitably comes.

The OLAC memorial tree is dedicated to the lives of all animals used in research. The Dawn Redwood [WP - off-site] (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) tree has been planted in an area where any researcher or OLAC staff-member is welcome to sit and remember the individual animals that have enriched their lives.