 |
| Dr Jemima Amery-Gale with an echidna. |
SAT caught up with recent graduate Jemima
Amery-Gale,a young veterinarian who spends her spare time lobbying for causes she believes in. No matter what your polical persuasion, we think you'll agree that Dr Amery-Gale's energy and committment is inspirational.
She graduated from The University of Melbourne in 2012 and is based at The Ark Vet Hospital in Darwin.
She graduated from The University of Melbourne in 2012 and is based at The Ark Vet Hospital in Darwin.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a new
graduate vet and have been working at The Ark since January 2013 (so I’ve been
out for a year but still think of myself as a new grad). I am from Adelaide but
lived in The Territory for a few years when I was very small, and have now
returned to the Top End to work – with the main attraction being the NT’s very
special and diverse wildlife. I most enjoy working with wildlife, both at The
Ark and The Territory Wildlife Park, but equally love going on bush trips to
de-sex and treat dogs in Indigenous communities. I have also been to
Timor-Leste twice to work with a team of Australian volunteer vets on livestock
vaccination and parasite control programs.
What inspired you to become a
veterinarian?
My main passion
in life is biodiversity conservation, and I studied veterinary science because
I thought it would be a useful skill to have to be able to contribute to the
fight to save threatened species from extinction. I suppose my love of animals
and passion for preventing the tragedy of species extinction was inspired by my
heroes: the naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, my mentor and
friend, zoologist Dr David Taggart, the wise environmentalist and former
Australian Greens leader Dr Bob Brown, and the writings of scientist and
climate change activist Dr Tim Flannery. And of course my first hero, dairy
farmer and the most generous and kind-hearted humanitarian, my late grandpa Max
Gale, OAM.
 |
| Looking up at grandpa Max Gale OAM. |
You undertook an additional year of
research during your veterinary degree. What was this about?
During my
Bachelor of Animal Science research year I investigated a gammaherpesvirus and
a novel coccidian both infecting the prostate of male Antechinus, plus
urogenital tract bacteria of koalas on French Island. Antechinus are small
insectivorous Australian marsupials of the family Dasyuridae. They follow the
‘‘big bang breeder’’ pattern of reproduction involving a frenzied two-week
mating period in late winter, followed by the stress-related synchronous annual
die-off of the entire male population at approximately 11.5 months of age. It
is likely that the prostate gland is the site of productive infection for both
the gammaherpesvirus and the coccidian, with virus particles and coccidian
oocysts being shed in prostatic secretions and hence semen to be cleverly
sexually transmitted just prior to the ultimate demise of all host males at the
end of their one and only breeding period.
 |
| A female antechinus. |
My koala work
involved searching for mycoplasma as a possible cause of ‘wet-bottom’ (urogenital
tract infections) in the chlamydia-free population of koalas on French Island,
Victoria. Unfortunately mycoplasmas are extremely fastidious and difficult to
culture, so the search proved frustrating and largely fruitless, but did include
some fun koala-catching fieldwork on a beautiful island and led to some leads
on possible causative bacteria for future projects to investigate.
 |
| A koala nurses her offspring in a tree. |
Who are the non-human companions in
your life right now and how did you come to meet them?
Right
now I have 5 delightful chookens and 4 puddle ducks. Their names are Hennifer
Anniston, Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy Pond, River Song, Melody Pond, Clara
Oswin-Oswald and Madame Pompadour. They are lovely and friendly, tolerate
cuddles, make the cutest contented noises and lay me delicious eggs! I love
them so much J
 |
| Jemima's ducklings and chickens. |
What do you do to chill out when you’re
not vetting?
Hmm…
spend time with family and friends, watch movies, gardening, baking, go to the
Darwin markets, listen to music, read, volunteer for a variety of political, environmental
and social justice campaigns…
You’re very passionate about politics.
What are the main issues you’re concerned about and how do you go about
effecting change?
I
don’t think I’ve ever been able to effectively effect change, but I’ve
attempted to by volunteering for The Greens – I still feel like this is a
productive investment of time and effort as our MPs have been able to achieve a
lot of positive outcomes in Australian politics, and I feel very proud of our
Greens policies. I’ve never felt like I’ve had to compromise my own values to
go along with the party position (like I’m sure most major party members have
to do with regularity), and even if you put many hours of really hard work
(often forcing yourself to be an outgoing campaigner when that doesn’t come
naturally) for little statistical gain in the results of an election (like the
devastating election of an Abbott-led Coalition at the last federal election),
at least I can feel like I was standing up for what really matters and doing
everything I possibly could to avert that disastrous result.
At the moment the
main issues I’m concerned about are climate change, our current species
extinction crisis, biodiversity conservation and environmental destruction.
Plus Closing the Gap and in particular campaigning against the NT Government’s
abolition of Bilingual Education for Indigenous kids, campaigning against the
Australian Government’s unbelievably cruel immigration policies and the
resultant inhumane treatment of refugees seeking our protection, trying to
support asylum seekers being held in detention on mainland Australia, reducing
global poverty and campaigning against atrocious human rights abuses being
committed around the world and most often against Indigenous peoples,
particularly in West Papua and Tibet. So in addition to the Greens I volunteer
with a few local social justice and conservation groups like DASSAN (Darwin
Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network), Territorians for a Free West
Papua, Friends of Bilingual Learning and Environment Centre NT, or make
donations to contribute to the work of organisations like Oxfam, UNICEF, etc.
What can ordinary vets do to reduce
their environmental impact?
Most
vets could reduce, reuse and recycle a lot more than they do already, and vet
clinics use a lot of electricity – going solar or switching to an alternate
source of renewable energy is an excellent way of reducing a clinic’s carbon
footprint (plus installing solar panels makes economic sense as it will also
reduce electricity costs in the long-term).
 |
| Jemima with a patient. |
Highlights include fun bush trips to Yuendumu, Nyirripi,
Yuelamu, Bonya, Belyuen & town camps round both Alice Springs & Darwin,
Milikapiti & Pirlangimpi on Melville Island, & Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst
Island working on dog health programs – de-sexing to control dog populations
and anti-parasitic treatments to reduce the prevalence and impact of zoonotic
diseases to improve both human and animal health and welfare in Indigenous
communities. Also working as the relief veterinarian for the Territory Wildlife
Park and getting involved in the Australian Wildlife Health Network’s Zoo Based
Wildlife Disease Surveillance Pilot Project through the electronic Wildlife
Health Information System database. Plus another trip to Timor-Leste with a
team of volunteer Australian vets evaluating their pilot livestock vaccination
program, and attending 3 amazing conferences: the Sea Turtle Health and
Rehabilitation Workshop, the Australian Wildlife Health Network’s Wildlife,
Emerging and Emergency Diseases workshop, and the very fun Wildlife
Disease Association Australasian Section Conference in
the Grampians. Also caring for 3 extremely sweet orphaned Sugar Gliders, an
orphan Northern Brown Bandicoot and a Radjah Shelduck named ‘Raj’, and getting
my first scientific paper accepted by the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Plus treating
a huge variety of interesting Top End wildlife while working at The Ark.
Lowlights
mostly involved getting a few hours sleep on dog mats on the floor of the
clinic in between after-hours calls and writing endless boring histories while
on-call…
 |
| Looking after sugar gliders...someone has to do it! |
Any tips for surviving your first year
out in practice?
Hmm,
master the art of being able to say ‘no’ and learn the tricky life lesson of
how to be selfish occasionally – strive for that elusive work-life balance…
Thanks Jemima for your time!
Thanks Jemima for your time!
