Vet Sci project leads to Dog Dreaming country

[ UniNews Vol. 15, No. 15  21 August - 4 September 2006 ]

By Janine Sim-Jones

Performing outdoor surgery on a dog in the twilight while a colleague is swatting mosquitoes off your forehead is not the ideal operating environment for a trainee veterinarian – but for Daniel Tung it was a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience.

“It was really amazing, not just as a Vet Science thing but as a cultural experience,” says Mr Tung, a fourth year veterinary science student.

“When I enrolled in Vet Science, I didn’t think I would find myself in Arnhem Land doing surgery on dogs.”

Mr Tung was one of three students who accompanied lecturer Dr Liz Tudor on her annual pilgrimage into the remote Dog Dreaming Country of the Northern Territory.

“It has given me such a different understanding of Aboriginal people, ‘’ he says.

“You hear all the negative stories and see all the bad publicity in the papers – but to go up there and see how people live in their communities and how happy they are, it gives you a different outlook.”

For the past two years Dr Tudor and her husband Rick have led University of Melbourne students on trips to the Kunbarllanjnja Community, in a project that aims to improve the welfare of animals and their indigenous owners - and to educate local people about how to better care for their dogs.

The Tudors have been regular visitors to Arnhem Land over the past four years, and the student project is an extension of the many ties they have built in the region over that time.

Their most recent visit, in June, included Daniel Tung, fellow students Nicola le Blanc Smith and Kate Thompson, and Melbourne veterinarian Dr Lucy White.

Dogs play a big part in the lives of the Kunbarllanjnja people but in many Indigenous communities the sheer number of dogs and the exorbitant cost of living (a box of Weet-Bix costs $12 from an outstation shop plane) leave owners with few resources to care for their animals.

Dr Tudor says that in the long term the project aims to improve the health of the region’s dog population and in turn the health of the people.

During the most recent trek the visiting vets de-sexed 50 dogs and provided a door-to-door service explaining to local families how they could treat their pets for common problems such as worms and fleas.

The students conducted research into how a new intravenous anaesthetic worked in field conditions for a number of different procedures and collected ticks and blood samples for analysis back in the laboratory in Melbourne.

They also trained two local health workers in basic sedation techniques so they could perform emergency treatments on injured dogs.

“There is very good evidence that the health of the people in these regions is affected by the health of their dogs,” Dr Tudor says.

“People want their dogs to be healthy but there are many difficulties.

“One is that there are too many dogs and they are always fighting. They fight because there is not enough food; they fight because they are not de-sexed and compete for partners.

“It becomes a genuine nuisance and in some communities the people can’t sleep because of all the dogs barking.”

Then there are even more serious health issues caused by the transmission of skin complaints such as scabies, fleas and ticks to humans.

Dr Tudor says that indigenous communities have the highest incidence of rheumatic heart disease in Australia, thought to be caused largely by streptococcal infections.

“When children have an apparently trivial infection of the skin that is broken by continued itching and scratching, it forms chronic sores and predisposes them to streptococcal infections and ultimately rheumatic heart disease,” she says.

“For that reason worming treatments and skin treatments of dogs are extremely important in improving the skin health of the whole community.”

Dr Tudor says that building the confidence of local people in the program had been a slow and steady process.

However, its impact is growing and the Kunbarllanjnja Community has agreed to employ a dog health officer who will carry out monthly routine health checks on local dogs.

The officer, to be trained by Dr Tudor, will be a local person who has a strong affinity with the local community.

Chief executive officer of the Kunbarllanjnja Community Mr Bill Medley says dog health services are essential in his community.

“Because we are part of Dog Dreaming Country they are very special animals, but the dog control needs to be done in a culturally appropriate way,” he says.

“We estimate it will take us about three years to get our dog problem under control.”

Dr Tudor says that the problems experienced in Arnhem Land are not unique, and that out of 600 remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory only about 40 have any veterinary support.

While vets such as Dr Tudor and University of Melbourne alumnus and academic associate Dr Ted Donelan have taken students with them on their trips in the Northern Territory, more veterinarians are needed to fill the unmet demand.

“We want this to be a long-term sustainable program and, ultimately, I would like to see students who have been on these trips adopt a community of their own after they graduate,” she says.

Dr Tudor notes that Melbourne graduates Dr Steve Cutter and Dr Linda Bradbury, now working in Darwin, work extensively in a number of remote communities. Dr Bradbury first visited while a final year student in 2004

Daniel Tung, now on field placement in Mansfield before graduating in December, says he would definitely like to return to the Northern Territory on a regular basis.

“I was a little skeptical before we left about what we could achieve but when I was there I found we could really make a difference,” Mr Tung says.

“When we met Aboriginal people and they were actually asking us to help their dogs it was great.

“It is one thing to go in and tell people what you want to do but it is another thing when they are asking you to help.

“People there trust Liz and Rick. You could not just be a random person and walk in there and tell people what to do. It shows just how much respect Liz and Rick have built up over the years.”

Dr Tudor says the field trips are prime example of the University of Melbourne’s focus on knowledge transfer. “It’s about cultural exchange. The whole trip is based on students learning about Indigenous communities and them learning from us.”


Janine Sim-Jones is a Melbourne University Media Unit journalist.