RSPCA Indigenous Dog Programs

There is a great need for desexing in the outback areas of NSW. Large numbers of stray animals are a drain on the resources of small communities and pose a risk to human health and safety.

The RSPCA has two programs which aim to help – Community Animal Welfare Schemes, run in conjunction with the Australian Veterinary Association and indigenous dog programs in conjunction with the Greater Western Area Health Service and Murdi Paaki region. These programs treat and desex dogs belonging to indigenous communities in remote towns such as Enngonia, Goodooga, Weilmoringle, Wilcannia and Dareton in the far west of the State.

This visiting vet program is a valuable one where there is otherwise no vet for hundreds of kilometres and where levels of unemployment are high.

Under our indigenous dog programs, hundreds of dogs have been vaccinated, microchipped, desexed and treated for worms, mange and ticks and fleas and other parasites. This controls breeding and prevents disease transmission between dogs and humans.

Chris Dixon has dogs because he loves them. They protect his family and provide companionship to his children. But he knows the responsibility of owning an animal. So he and Murrawarri community member worked with the RSPCA to provide a two-day veterinary clinic for his small town of Enngonia in 2004.

Enngonia is 100 kilometres from Bourke, where Professor Fred Hollows restored the sight of members of the Aboriginal community living on the reserve. The reserve still exists and is home to the Murrawarri people and the scores of dogs who roam the streets. The Murrawarri believe they can look after their animals better if there are less of them.