Abstract
Community perspectives are rarely sought or integrated into dog management policy and practice. Dog management in remote communities in Australia has focused on reducing the number of dogs, which is often implemented by visiting veterinarians, despite widely-held opinions that fly-in-fly-out services provide only temporary solutions. We conducted participatory research in a group of remote communities in northern Australia to explore how dog-related problems arise and are managed, and explain their impacts from a One Health perspective. Over the course of a year, 53 residents from a range of backgrounds contributed through in-depth interviews with key community service providers, and informal semi-structured discussions with community residents. Free-roaming dogs have broader impacts on canine and human health than previously documented. Dog-keeping norms that enable free-roaming can enhance human and dog wellbeing and intra-family connectivity. This can also cause disengagement and conflict with other residents, leading to resentment and occasionally violence towards dogs. Dog-related problems are underpinned by constraints associated with remote-living, governance and differing sociocultural norms. Focusing on dog population reduction detracts from the welfare benefits and sociocultural value of free-roaming dogs and undermines community-determined management that can overcome constraints to support local values and co-promote canine and human wellbeing.
Highlights
In this study we explore the impacts of free-roaming domestic dogs and dog management strategies in a group of 5 communities in a remote region of northern Australia
Better dog management and dog population control is at the core of the drive towards global rabies elimination[13,14], and the promotion of responsible dog ownership is encoded in a broad suite of World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) p olicies[15]
Canine rabies is currently exotic to Australia such that the key challenges posed by human cohabitation with an unrestricted canine population include the potential for increased incidence of
Summary
In this study we explore the impacts of free-roaming domestic dogs and dog management strategies in a group of 5 communities in a remote region of northern Australia. Studies in other settings such as Bangalore in India[28] and in northern Canada[3,29] highlight how colonial mindsets and public health concerns can limit the focus of intervention strategies to controlling the negative impacts of free-roaming dogs, while ignoring the beneficial effects of the relationships between dogs and people. Drawing on these insights, we aimed to explore how dog-related problems arise and are managed in northern Australia, to explain their impacts from a One Health perspective, and to cooperate with local leaders and service providers to develop mechanisms for improvement
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