Healthier dogs equal healthier people

A recent campaign to control the dog population in remote Aboriginal communities has produced unexpected benefits.

For many years, dogs have played an active part of remote Aboriginal communities as pets and hunting dogs but recently the increased numbers have affected the health of both animals and humans.

However, an Australian Government programme which has volunteer veterinarians working closely with communities to improve dog health and control their numbers has not only resulted in healthier dogs but has also seen the health of the communities improve.

In the Utopia homelands north of Alice Springs, community Elders recognised that the increased numbers of dogs were a growing problem around the community, with many suffering from mange and worms.

Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC), a charity organisation, hired local community members and joined with the Barkly Shire Council to work with Utopia’s sixteen outstations, spread over more than 600 square kilometres, desexing and treating 3000 dogs.

Following the project, local health clinics noted a 70% decrease in skin diseases like scabies in residents, which they linked to AMRRIC’s work. This result echoed the news from the health clinic in Yirrkala, in northeast Arnhem Land. Following AMRRIC’s work there, the significant reduction of scabies in residents reflected the reduction in scabies in the local dog population.

In Epenarra in central Australia, community members were excited by AMRRIC’s animal safety project, not just for human health outcomes and local job opportunities, but to ease their concern about the fate of their dogs.

Epenarra resident Daniel Woodman says that AMRRIC and the Barkly Shire Council spoke with community members to ensure the veterinarians had the support of the community before desexing and treating the animals.

“They have been going about things the right way,” Daniel said.

“The vets always talk to the owners before treating the dogs, and have been working with the night patrol to know which dogs they could treat.”

Fellow Epenarra local Craigwyn Camphoo was happy for AMRRIC to treat his dogs, which were showing symptoms of mange.

“The vets were helping dogs with their sickness, keeping them fat and making their hair grow back,” Craigwyn said.

“I saw them cut up some bread, inject medicine into it with a syringe and feed them to the dogs. The dogs got better and locals are now looking after dogs a lot more.”