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| 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). |
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.
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| 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.
