Recently one of our vets, Dr Kirsty Officer from Vetwest Cockburn travelled to the far north of WA to participate in a community dog health programme in Kalumburu.
Facilitated by the not-for-profit charity AMRRIC (Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities), the vets worked with local environmental health and animal management workers and community dog owners to desex and treat almost 100 dogs and cats over 4 days. The community of Kalumburu is very isolated, being two days drive from Kununurra, but is located in an amazingly beautiful part of our state.
Despite the isolation and having to improvise somewhat with things like operating theatres and surgery tables, it is still possible to uphold high standards of veterinary care when delivering these programmes, and the benefits to the health and welfare of the dogs and the broader community are significant and long lasting.
To find out more please visit www.amrric.org, and consider supporting this wonderful organisation – the only national not-for-profit organisation in Australia focused on improving animal and community health in remote Indigenous communities.
About Dr Kirsty Officer
I am a veterinarian who is passionate about animal welfare, public health and wildlife conservation, and the interconnectedness of all three.
This interest has taken me to many amazing places, from working on a research project investigating Aboriginal child health, to working with Vets Beyond Borders on a number of street dog population and rabies control projects in India, and most recently three years in Vietnam as the vet at Animals Asia Foundation’s sanctuary for bears rescued from the horrendous bear bile industry.
After over 5 years away, I am really excited about the prospect of being able to dedicate some time to helping improve the health and wellbeing of some dogs and people in my own country. Having grown up in the outback of Western Australia, I am also longing to get back out to some red dirt country! As a member I have followed and admired the work of AMRRIC for many years and now I’m looking forward to finally being able to contribute more by volunteering.
