Welcome to AMRRIC

AMRRIC is an independent group of Veterinarians, academics, health professionals and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We work to improve the health and wellbeing of companion animals and improve the overall health and wellbeing of remote Indigenous communities by:

• implementing best practice sustainable dog health programs
• facilitating knowledge sharing programs
• providing veterinary support and volunteer veterinary programs
• promoting and developing scientific research
• holding national conferences to contribute to best practice and the body of knowledge
• policy development and assisting shires/councils with strategic planning
• public health support and Indigenous Environmental Health Worker support.
• providing animal management training
• the development of key resources.

 AMRRIC MEMBER OF THE MONTH SEPT Dr Felicity Smout 

 

Felicity is a qualified veterinarian with broad experience of ecological research including working in the coastal forests of Kenya, Africa where she was responsible for collecting data for the Kenya Wildlife Service on forest biodiversity, primate behavioural studies, small mammal trapping (giant pouched rats) and human impact on coastal forests. 

Felicity has recently started a PhD with James Cook University to research the risk of spillover of disease from wild dogs in the Wet Tropics of North Qld. She will be looking into the various pathways, mechanisms and risk of transmission of diseases to wildlife, domestic animals and humans. Some of her work will be undertaken in rural and remote Indigenous communities to understand links between dog health and human health.

Urban expansion into previously underdeveloped areas in the region has compounded the wild dog problem leading to increases in human-wild dog interaction and increases in the rate at which domestic dogs enter the feral population. Epidemiological investigations will enable a better understanding of the effects that these changes are having on the area’s native fauna, domestic animals, human residents and visitors. 

Felicity will assess current community attitudes and public awareness of diseases of wild dogs to identify gaps in education of communities on potential zoonoses and diseases which may be spread to domestic animals. This project will also provide recommendations for improved control and management of wild dogs and their diseases in the Wet Tropics.

Some wild dogs will be collared with GPS tracking devices to provide detailed information on movement, social ecology and behaviour of wild dogs. This information will determine to what extent the dogs are moving through peri-urban and densely-settled rural areas along with pristine rainforest habitat, and how they schedule movements between these regions. 

Other researchers working in partnership with Felicity will also investigate wild dog genetics and diet. By using a multidisciplinary approach to the project and integrating results, a better understanding of the nature of the wild dog problem in the Wet Tropics can be reached.

 

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