Apr 4, 2012

Dr Kate comes back

Dr Kate desexes a dog at Utopia
I'm back from the Utopia group of Aboriginal settlements in Central Australia. In a hectic week we  desexed 184 dogs in a temporary vet hospital at the Arlparra basketball courts.
A remarkable collaboration between vets and nurses from Canberra, the Tennant Creek Shire council, AMRRIC (Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities) vets based in Darwin and the local Ampilatwatja health service aimed to improve animal health and welfare, and human health.
I saw cats in two houses but their owners declined to have them desexed. The cats didn't seem to roam far. I think the dogs and the extreme climatic conditions kept them close to camp!


The vets spent half their time in surgery and the other half out in the camps talking to the people about dog health and the benefits of desexing.
This is the turn off to Aniltji, a small settlement on the edge of Utopia. Very little else existed to point the way so we were very glad to see this tree after bumping along the sand and corrugated road.

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