Saturday, September 27, 2014

International rabbit day, international rabies day, and a magnificent frog

International Rabbit Day is upon us.

It’s a weekend that may well confuse some. Today (Saturday, at least downunder) is International RABBIT Day – celebrating bunnies for all their cuteness, companionship, and also recognising their use (and abuse) by humans. Thus for example, Humane ResearchAustralia is promoting the day to acknowledge rabbits used in research. HRA is currently involved in a campaign to legislate against testing cosmetics on animals. For more information read here.

Sunday is World RABIES Day. Rabies is a devastating disease which kills over 50,000 people every year. Whilst we don’t have the disease in Australia an incursion of rabies into Northern Australia is not an improbable scenario. This week I had the opportunity to moderate a hypothetical scenario where a rabid dog made it to Arnhemland in theNorthern Territory.

Rabies is a preventable disease. Appropriate vaccination, education around bite prevention (especially dog bite prevention) and information about post-exposure prophylaxis SAVES LIVES. For more information about rabies awareness and how you can get involved, look here.



Magnificent Tree Frog
A magnificent Magnificent tree frog.
Finally, in Darwin I had the pleasure of meeting this stunning Magnificent Tree Frog, aka the Splendid Tree Frog (Litoria Splendida) living up to its name.

Magnificent Tree Frog/Splendid Tree Frog
Another view of a splendid creature.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Education and animal welfare, and Ag-Gag laws

Conference delegates recieved a goodie bag containing, among other things, an International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) plush dog. Pox the chihuahua raided my goodie bag and had a very exciting morning!!!
We’re back from steaming, hot (33 degrees C) Darwin back to Sydney (15 degrees on the tarmac) and inspired after the AMRRIC conference. The theme running through yesterday’s talks was education.

You can have the best dog management program in the world, you can aim to vaccinate hundreds of dogs or desex thousands – but if you don’t convey the reasons you are doing so, the program will fall flat.

For example, Dr Ganga de Silva from the Blue Paw Trust in Sri Lanka explained that when they designed their Colombo rabies vaccination program, many locals knew rabies was fatal – but had no idea it was preventable. This lack of knowledge itself can be fatal – people bitten by rabid dogs might not know how to treat a wound, where to seek help, what to do. Locals are more likely to participate in the dog program if they appreciate that vaccination of dogs will reduce the spread of rabies.

AMRRIC organisers and delegates with Dr De Silva (second from right).
Most dog programs now incorporate school talks, but the Blue Paw Trust also used street dramas and public multimedia displays to get the message out. Dr de Silva talked about the pros of cons of each of these methods and potential improvements for future programs.

Dr Frank Ascione, from the University of Denver, talked about the societal response to the link between animal abuse and domestic or intimate partner violence. This was a really positive talk – many organisations had developed resources to prevent families being separated from their pets in the time of most need. A number of women’s shelters had also incorporated areas where pets could be kept so they too can be protected from perpetrators of violence. As he pointed out, it’s nice to see messages from the number-crunchers in the ivory tower filter down and change practice in the real world.

Dr Debbie Marriot, Senior Specialist in Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, gave a fantastic presentation on potential zoonoses and did much to allay fears about “germs” from animals. She knows a thing or two about dogs, co-habiting with four.

She talked especially about dog bites, which constitute a big public health problem right across Australia – approximately 2% of the population is bitten annually by something (human or animal – yep, humans bite too), and around 80% of these are bitten by dogs. Bite wounds cause damage in two ways as they are a combination of a penetrating wound plus blunt trauma, and she talked about how the blunt trauma may be implicated in severe, fatal bites to the head and neck.

Ultimately, companion animals should not be feared – zoonotic transmission of host-adapted pathogens is uncommon, although we need to respect that domestic animals could be potential reservoirs of these organisms.

It was a fantastic, stimulating, motivating and wonderful conference.

In news from around the web, this story (click here) raises a number of concerns about the treatment of animals by a group of police officers in Canberra.

In this instance incriminating footage sparked an investigation which will, we hope, improve the attitude of these police towards animals. But what if we didn’t have video evidence?

The event would not have been investigated. This brings us to the so-called Ag-Gag laws. The laws have been designed to protect farmers against activists.

This is a tricky issue. On the one hand there is the right for farmers to privacy, free enterprise etc. But on the other, it is only because of people taking footage of animal welfare abuse that this is known about. The victims cannot speak or testify.

Ag-gag laws criminalise covert surveillance of commercial animal enterprise, and require all footage to be handed over to enforcement authorities. Animal welfare groups, however, claim that authorities rarely act – whereas when the media airs the footage it allows the public to respond.

But they also require potential employees of commercial animal facilities to disclose current or past ties to animal protection groups. This, argue some, is important in ensuring that employees are on the same page as employers. But animal welfare groups say this is a gross invasion of privacy. Two people, for example, may be members of an animal activist organisation. One may be very active in the organisation, the other may simply pay a membership fee and bin the newsletters. Regardless, do employers have a right to discriminate against potential employees based on their association?

Voiceless is one organisation that has been campaigning against Ag-gag legislation and you can read more about it by clicking here. If you have an interest in ethics or law this is particularly fascinating stuff.

The proposed legislation was defeated in South Australia.

According to Voiceless:

"SA legislators have voted against the Surveillance Devices Bill, which sought to criminalise the public release of information collected through the use of surveillance devices, including a maximum penalty of $75,000 for a corporation and $15,000 or imprisonment for three years for individuals.
This Bill would have had a significant impact on how the media reports on matters of public interest, including the treatment of animals in factory farms. Its tabling attracted fierce opposition from media outlets, workers’ unions and animal protection groups who use such footage to expose cruelty within Australia’s animal industries.
Thankfully on this occasion, cooler heads have prevailed and the Bill was defeated. This is a win for consumer advocacy, workers’ rights, freedom of the press and, of course, animal protection." 

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Rabies, dog programs and dogmanship

With Dr Jan Allen (AMRRIC), Dr Charles Douglas (NT Centre for Disease Control), Dr Helen Scott-Orr (former Chief Veterinary Officer of NSW), Dr Malcolm Anderson (NT Chief Veterinary Officer), Charlie King (our brilliant MC and commentator) and Dr Joe Schmidt (from the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy).

For those who don’t know we’re currently based at the Animal Management in Rural and Remote IndigenousCommunities (AMRRIC) 10th Anniversary Conference, held in sunny (and sticky) Darwin.

A major theme underlying this conference is One Health and – no matter how you interpret the term – an incursion of rabies into Australia is one event that would certainly be a “One Health” issue.

Yesterday we ran an exercise to look at how communities, local and Federal Governments and other organisations might respond to a hypothetical rabies outbreak in Arnhem Land, and it got the audience very excited. 

Many questions were raised including how quickly the virus may spread between dogs, who might be available to participate in mass vaccination programs given most Australians aren’t vaccinated for rabies (so there may be a lag before some people could help), what has happened in poorly managed outbreaks overseas and how local knowledge about communities and dogs could reduce infection and save lives.

What I came away with is a sense that rabies preparedness is not about being ready to respond in the event of an outbreak. It is about developing relationships with communities and dogs over time, about involving veterinarians and health workers with local knowledge, and ensuring communication and education occur well in advance so that panic is minimised. And that can help manage other health and infectious disease problems in the meantime. We're also very fortunate in that a number of researchers in Australia are currently looking at what might happen if rabies were to emerge here.

I'm not really whinging about the weather. Its perfect. Although not quite prepared to take a dip. (Loved the signage. They're happy to admit that crocs and box jellyfish can kill you but someone forgot to mention that cigarettes kill more people than these animals do).
Other highlights of the day were Dr Ganga de Silva’s discussion of the rabies control program run by the Blue Paw Trust in Sri Lanka. We are very fortunate in Australia not to have rabies, but worldwide someone dies of rabies every ten minutes – around 55,000 people per year.

Rabies infects humans and animals, but dogs are the main reservoir. The only way to reduce the R0 (the basic reproductive rate – which for rabies is 1-2) is to control rabies in dogs.

The Blue Paw Trust has done fantastic work in vaccinating many dogs against rabies. Together with post-exposure prophylaxis, rabies vaccination of dogs reduces human infections. Eliminating rabies from Sri Lanka, an island, is doable, but requires ongoing cooperation from Government and organisations. Dr de Silva’s talk about the work of her team was inspiring.

Dr Kirsty Officer, who has volunteered with a number of organisations including Animals Asia, AMRRIC and Vets Beyond Borders, gave a brilliant talk about dog programs. She argued that we need to think about the big picture – programs are “more than just spaying dogs”. Really, volunteers should be aiming to “do themselves out of a job”. The aim is to ensure that locals are left with a sustainable program.

But the little picture itself is really important – every dog counts. A dog management program should never be about how many dogs you could desex in a day. The welfare of those animals should be optimised at each stage of the process. She suggested that dog catching was the limiting factor in many dog projects and one where welfare gets compromised often. There is a need to understand, role model and promote humane handling.

Easy-to-catch dogs are often caught first while the aggressive, problem dogs on the fringes may be considered too-hard. But programs that ignore these dogs don’t help in the long term – those dogs are the ones that hang around and breed, and their offspring inherit/learn the same ways.

She also discussed the need for minimum standards of veterinary care, which can be a challenge to maintain in tough conditions. They are essential in optimising animal welfare but also ensuring programs are sustainable.

Another highlight was Professor Paul McGreevy’s talk on dogmanship. We are all familiar with the term horsemanship – horsey people just seem to be better at being around horses, not irritating them, engaging with them, handling them better and so on. Professor McGreevy argued that the same applies with dogs.
Studies have shown that good dog trainers are consistent in their behaviour, optimise the timing of cues and rewards, and can effectively communicate with animals (i.e. they can grab their attention and keep them engaged) – but what about just generally good dog people?

His team are looking at peer-reviewed evidence for elements of dogmanship (different attributes that impact a dog’s level of arousal and mood). Some of these include whether an individual dog is familiar with us, ability to capture the animal’s attention, activity sharing and even using a clear, higher-pitched voice around dogs.

What was less clear was how the attachment of the animal to the person, or vice versa, impacted the relationship.

If we could work out the elements of what makes a person good with dogs and break these down into bits we could teach people that are likely to encounter dogs – any person who might meet and greet dogs in their work (e.g. a postie), or anyone handling, training or caring for a dog.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

What does One Health actually look like?

A sick sea turtle. How is a One Health approach to this animal different?
SAT HQ has relocated to beautiful Darwin, for the 10th Anniversary AMRRIC (Animal Managementin Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities) conference. I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved with AMRRIC since its inception, and attended the conference of its precursor, Big Lick, up in Darwin in (gulp) 2000. Fourteen years ago!

Another delegate who was around back then is Rick Speare, whose title should be “Emeritus Professor Dr Dr Dr Dr Rick Speare”, as he has degrees in veterinary science, medicine, a PhD and a Doctor of Veterinary Science in amphibian medicine.

The same turtle. Note the scales are peeling away.
He gave a stirring talk yesterday about the concept of One Health – we use the term but not everyone responds to it in the same way. It is accepted at the highest levels and written into policy, but people on the ground have mixed feelings about it. Some of us think we’re doing it anyway, some think it just applies to the topic of zoonotic disease, and some think it means human health should be number one.

Professor (if I may be so bold as to abbreviate) Speare looked at different models of One Health and suggested that in some ways it is limiting. He also discussed some of the differences between veterinary patients and those of human doctors and made some interesting points. For example in veterinary medicine quality of life is more important than life itself (a bold statement but look at practice and policies in human and animal medicine), that our patient’s lives are expendable, that some animals exist solely for economic gain, and that we have more control over our patients than doctors do.

Prof. Speare talked about the need to understand what One Health looks like on the ground. There remains a need to prove the concept, i.e. to show that an integrated approach to human, animal and environmental health improves outcomes, for example better prediction and control of communicable disease. He suggested that while it has been long discussed that dog health programs in communities are a good model for promoting public health, that assumption needs to be tested. Can such models be built on? Do healthy dogs give communities a sense of control? What determines the incidence of dog bites in communities?

As Prof. Speare concluded, the term One Health is here to stay. But if we are going to use it, we need to understand what it means, how outcomes can be measured and ultimately what “One Health” looks like.

Today I am honoured to be facilitating a hypothetical rabies incursion scenario in Arnhem Land, along with Dr Malcolm Anderson (NT’s Chief Veterinary Officer), Dr Charles Douglas (NT Health Department’s Centre for Disease Control), Dr Joe Schmidt (from the Australian Government’s Northern Australian Quarantine Strategy) and Dr Helen Scott-Orr (former Chief Veterinary Officer of NSW).

What would happen if a rabies case was detected in this area? What agencies would become involved and who would be responsible? How would the outbreak be controlled and would we have enough resources? Stay tuned.


Meantime if you’d like to find out more about AMRRIC, visit their site here.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Survival tips for recent veterinary graduates, wildlife skills, vets pets and a postdoc in animal studies

Want to learn how to look after these guys?
I'm en route to the AMRRIC conference today, so wanted to post some info which might just appeal to some or all of our readers. There are lots of animal-related learning opportunities coming up that you might like to know about. Who knows - something on the list might just change your life.

SURVIVAL SEMINAR FOR RECENT VETERINARY GRADUATES

The Centre for Veterinary Education is hosting a brilliant looking seminar on November 22 for veterinary graduates 0-3 years out. Click here for more info. Its good to see so many awesome speakers, including some students I taught! The first few years of being a vet are rough. As one vet said to me, "I would not want to relive my first six months if you paid me a million billion gazillion dollars". Which on reflection is somewhat hyperbolic. But the going is a LOT smoother if you can soak up the wisdom of those who have gone before you...

 WILDLIFE COURSE

If you are keen to get involved with wildlife rescue organisation WIRES, you can sign up for their Rescue and Immediate Care course to be held at Randwick Community Centre on October 18-19. 

The course costs $100 including notes, morning and afternoon tea.
For registration, visit the website (http://www.wires.org.au/get-involved/training-courses.html), email training@wires.org.au or click here

BEST VET PET PHOTO COMPETITION

If you’re a vet, nurse or work in the animal care industry you can enter a photo of your pet into the CVE’s “best vet pet” competition. Click here for more info.


POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN ANIMAL STUDIES
 
Have you done a PhD in animal studies?


The Department of Philosophy at Queen’s University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Animal Studies. This is a one-year non-renewable 12-month fellowship. The successful applicant will have a demonstrated expertise in animal ethics, law and public policy, show evidence of teaching potential, and be able to participate constructively in departmental and collegial activities. While we interpret animal ethics, law and public policy broadly, and welcome applications from various disciplines that study human-animal relations including political science, law, philosophy, sociology, geography, and environmental studies, we are looking in particular for research that critically examines the moral, legal and political dimensions of how human-animal relations are governed. 

A recipient of the Fellowship is expected to reside in Kingston, to teach a University course in animal studies, and to help organize a workshop or conference in the field. The Fellow will work under the supervision of Prof. Will Kymlicka. The 2015-16 fellowship will start on July 1, 2015. Applicants must have submitted their doctoral dissertation by that date, and must be within five years of having received their doctorate. The salary for the postdoctoral fellowship will be $40,000, which includes remuneration for teaching a half-course in animal ethics or a cognate subject. Applications are due by January 15th, 2015. The fellowship is one of several new initiatives regarding Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethicsat Queen’s. For more information, visit http://www.queensu.ca/philosophy/Jobs.html, or contact Prof. Kymlicka (kymlicka@queensu.ca).

Monday, September 22, 2014

Do dogs like to be hugged, and separation distress in dogs

No separation distress here? A golden retriever chillaxes.
Why are relationships with animals different? According to one paper I read on the weekend, “the fact that pets are not human confers certain advantages; the relationships are less subject to provider burnout or to fluctuations, and they do not impose a strain or cause concern about continuing stability” (McNicholas et al 2005).

But that doesn’t mean that your pet will appreciate being cuddled all day. SAT reader Mick sent this link about why (some) dogs don’t like to be hugged and how we can tell. Click here to read on.

Speaking of hugging and attachment, Diane Van Rooy is recruiting golden retrievers and Labradors in her study on separation distress.

Do you think your dog might be eligible? Here is Dr Rooy’s blurb:
I am a veterinarian and, together with Professor Claire Wade from the Veterinary Medical and Behavioural Genetics group at the University of Sydney, I am conducting a PhD research project on the genetics of separation-related distress in dogs. I need the help of owners throughout Australia to recruit suitable candidates for my project. Although this disorder can occur in any breed, I am initially focussing on Labradors and golden retrievers.
If you have a lab or a goldie or know someone who does, click here. You can also read out interview with Diane here.

SAT reader Kerry sent this link featuring some incredible “Big Face” animal tee shirts by Mountain. If you’d like to wear a giant Rottweiler/guinea pig/pomerarian kitten face down the street, look no further than here.

Reference
McNicholas J, Gilbey A, Rennie A, Ahmedzai S, Dono J & Ormerod E (2005) Pet ownership and human health: a brief review of evidence and issues. British Medical Journal 331:1252-1254.