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September 2011 - Australian Veterinary Association

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ADVANCING<br />

VETERINARY SCIENCE<br />

<strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Veterinary</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />

<strong>September</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:<br />

• Presidents Word<br />

• AVA Involvement At St Lucia<br />

• New Graduate Support Scheme Testimonial<br />

• Editor’s Note<br />

• Wild Dog Management Strategy Released<br />

• Shared Approach To Wild Dog Management<br />

• Hello From The EO’s Desk<br />

• Farm Animal Law: Reflections From The<br />

European Union<br />

• GPS Tracking For Flying Foxes In Hendra Virus<br />

Research First<br />

• Hendra Virus Concerns: Comments From<br />

Concerned Members<br />

• To Treat Or Not To Treat? That Is The Question.<br />

Whether It Is Nobler…...<br />

• Batting For The Flying Fox<br />

• Euthanasia Of Dusty The Dog<br />

• Recommended Specimen Submission Guidelines<br />

For Hendra Virus Testing<br />

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy – Update<br />

March <strong>2011</strong><br />

• Communicating With Animals<br />

• AVA PetPEP<br />

• Marine Pollutants: Immuno-Suppressants<br />

• He Who Fails To Plan Is Planning To Fail<br />

• Vale..…Grant Frazer


AVA Tasmanian Division<br />

and BVP Conference <strong>2011</strong><br />

Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart<br />

4 - 6 November <strong>2011</strong><br />

Improving Your Outcome<br />

In Emergency Management<br />

Speakers will include:<br />

Associate Professor Edith Hampson Associate Professor Phil Moses<br />

Associate Professor Gary Wilson Dr Terry King<br />

Dr Brett Stone Dr Rob Webster Dr Bryan Walpole<br />

Please contact AVA Qld Division or go online http://www.ava.com.au/event-121<br />

for full details, Brochure and Registration Form<br />

AVA QLD DIVISION EXECUTIVE, STANDING & SUB-COMMITTEES<br />

President<br />

President Elect<br />

Honorary Treasurer<br />

Honorary Secretary<br />

Executive Committee Members<br />

Invited Executive Committee<br />

Members<br />

Honorary Newsletter Editor<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Education<br />

Animal Welfare<br />

Tony Thelander<br />

Tess Guilfoyle<br />

Bob Rees<br />

Michael O’Donoghue<br />

Bruce Pott, Andrew Easton, Patricia Clarke, Robert Hedlefs, Nigel<br />

Thomas and Carmel Kerwick<br />

Malcolm McLennan, Jon Hill and Robert Cassidy<br />

David Paxton<br />

Michael O’Donoghue (Convenor), Sue Fowkes, Sue Lapham, Patricia<br />

Ray Barbero, Laurie Dowling and Robert Cassidy<br />

Body Corporate Rep. – AVA House John Odlum<br />

Historian<br />

Policy Councillor<br />

Malcolm McLennan<br />

Robert Hedlefs


AVA Qld Division President’s Word<br />

Tony Thelander<br />

Dear Colleagues,<br />

Part of the duties of the President is<br />

to represent the AVA at many and<br />

varied occasions; some of the occasions<br />

include the sad farewell of<br />

some our veterinary colleagues.<br />

Recently I have attended funerals of<br />

two of our colleagues – one was a<br />

celebration of a full and rich life<br />

which was an inspiration to all who<br />

attended. The other was a sad farewell of one of our colleagues<br />

taken from us far too early and to make sense of it<br />

all, one must try to draw a message to help make a positive<br />

contribution to our profession.<br />

We are a small profession and many of us work in small<br />

businesses or teams and as a result, we get to know our<br />

workmates extremely well, so it should be relatively easy in<br />

most cases for us to look out for each other. It is normally<br />

expected that employers are generally responsible for the<br />

welfare of their employees but all too often, no one is looking<br />

out for the employer or those in management. One of<br />

the benefits of a well-functioning team working environment<br />

is that everyone from the boss down is involved in<br />

running the business and as a result it is easier to watch<br />

out for one’s workmates.<br />

All too often, especially in larger businesses and institutions,<br />

people can become isolated, performance and accountability<br />

can become paramount and the stress of the<br />

job, no matter what level you operate at, becomes all consuming.<br />

If this situation is happening to you or a workmate,<br />

do try to reach out to someone or to that person in<br />

some way. It’s often the small things that make the difference<br />

to the lives of others and it is always too late when<br />

they are gone.<br />

On a brighter note, I recently attended the ASAVA conference<br />

on the Gold Coast which was attended by almost 400<br />

veterinarians. Those who attended were treated to a top<br />

class program on thoracic medicine and surgery delivered<br />

by 3 world renowned speakers; in addition there were<br />

workshops, the usual fantastic trade display and a great<br />

social program. The conference highlighted a couple of<br />

things: Firstly the importance of remaining “current” insofar<br />

as continuing education (CE) is concerned; secondly<br />

the importance of making the most of your AVA membership<br />

and becoming involved by joining a special interest<br />

group; and thirdly for networking with colleagues and industry<br />

so you know what is happening around you.<br />

Fortunately new Hendra cases (touch wood) seem to have<br />

subsided somewhat but it would appear that so long as<br />

bats and horses co-exist that the risk of fresh cases will<br />

continue. For horse owners and veterinarians alike, the<br />

Hendra vaccine cannot come soon enough. On the positive<br />

side of things, each case brings the opportunity to further<br />

our knowledge in prevention, control and eradication<br />

of the disease, not to mention improved safety procedures<br />

in practice and general public awareness of a dangerous<br />

disease.<br />

One of the incidents that caught everyone’s attention was<br />

the fate of ‘Dusty’ the dog who presented our profession<br />

with a unique opportunity to further understand the dis-<br />

ease as far as its transmission and manifestation in other<br />

species. Most of us accept the reasons for Dusty’s fate but<br />

we all hope that the opportunity to learn and to better protect<br />

other dogs that may come in contact with Hendra was<br />

not lost in bureaucracy. As a scientist, I, like all of us, will<br />

be keen to learn of Dusty’s contribution to science in the<br />

fullness of time, to know that he did not die in vain.<br />

A busy time lies ahead for our hard working committee in<br />

the next month with the organising of the Roma Roundup,<br />

the Divisional strategic planning weekend in <strong>September</strong>,<br />

the Central Qld Branch conference at Agnes Waters in October<br />

and the Brisbane Branch conference in Hobart in November.<br />

While we are talking of organising events, our congratulations<br />

go to our Executive Officer, Amanda who is currently<br />

organising her wedding for October. Yes, we are giving<br />

her time off for a honeymoon and our best wishes go to<br />

Amanda and Joe for their future together.<br />

In closing, if you have ideas, issues, criticisms or if you just<br />

need information, please make yourself known to your local<br />

Branch member or to our Executive Officer, Amanda<br />

(ph: 07 3423 1844) in our Brisbane office so we can respond.<br />

Remember, it’s your <strong>Association</strong> and we are here<br />

to help.<br />

Sincerely<br />

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AVA Involvement At St Lucia<br />

Ayrial Mammino (AVA senior student representative at UQ)<br />

New graduate Support Scheme Testimonial<br />

Dr Tessia Guilfoyle<br />

The veterinary school at UQ is always a busy place. Lecturers<br />

are busy filling students’ brains with all sorts of information<br />

from biochemistry to surgical techniques and<br />

even the odd clinical story from times long past. With such<br />

a brain overload the students need to let their hair down<br />

occasionally. By far one of the best events to do this at is<br />

the annual UQVSA (UQ <strong>Veterinary</strong> Students <strong>Association</strong>)<br />

ball where students and lecturers alike have trouble recognising<br />

each other out of their day to day attire (hoodies<br />

and uggs at the cold Gatton campus). The AVA is proudly<br />

sponsoring this social event this year, to take place on<br />

Saturday the 24 th of <strong>September</strong>.<br />

Throughout the year the AVA has focused on helping inspire<br />

and educate students by funding several extracurricular<br />

activities and lectures for the students. These<br />

events are always a hit because they give the students an<br />

opportunity to learn outside the usual gruelling timetable<br />

that can seem monotonous and overwhelming. Some of<br />

the activities the students have enjoyed being able to experience<br />

and participate in this year include:<br />

Cattle dehorning and hoof trimming workshops<br />

Cattle castration workshop<br />

Cattle AI, pregnancy diagnosis and foetal ageing<br />

workshop<br />

Equine lecture seminars given by esteemed<br />

lecturers and welcomed with<br />

enthusiasm and interest by the students.<br />

Topics covered included:<br />

◊ Orthopaedic surgery – given by Dr Steven Zedler<br />

◊ Diarrhoea in neonates – given by Dr Carlos Medina<br />

◊ Endometritis in the Mare– given by Dr Wynn Collins<br />

SIG (special interest group) workshop week (1 st – 5 th<br />

August) where each night the students were given the<br />

opportunity to be lectured on or participate in the following:<br />

◊ Emergency bandaging in the horse workshop<br />

◊ BAG (Bovine Appreciation Group) Mastitis dairy<br />

panel session<br />

◊ VOH (Vets in One Health) had two enjoyable lectures:<br />

Dr Nigel Perkins recounted some of his experiences<br />

as a vet in the epidemiological field and Dr Michael<br />

D’Occhio gave a lecture entitled ‘Vets feeding<br />

the world’.<br />

◊ Professor Trevor Heath, Dr Phil Thomas, Dr David<br />

Foote and Dr Liam Flannagan gave the students<br />

practical advice on vet school and the world beyond.<br />

◊ Dr Pearl Symmons and Dr Paul Eden gave the students<br />

a taste of wildlife veterinary medicine over the<br />

students lunch hours.<br />

◊ As well as many other riveting activities.<br />

The week was a great success and most importantly was<br />

considered very worthwhile by the students.<br />

VOH (Vets in One Health) night on the 22 nd August. We<br />

were fortunate to have Dr Sophie Constable from<br />

AMRRIC (Animal management in rural and remote indigenous<br />

communities)talk about her work in Antarctica,<br />

the Solomon Islands and in dog health and population<br />

control in NT Indigenous communities. Dr Rowland<br />

Cobbold also lectured on his career path in epidemiology.<br />

Dr Ristan Greer spoke about her cross over into<br />

human public health and medical research. Finally Dr<br />

Allison Crook, Director of Animal Biosecurity and Welfare<br />

at DEEDI (DPI) spoke about her career in government<br />

work and role in the equine Influenza outbreak.<br />

With the many extracurricular academic events and the<br />

many social events scattered throughout the year a UQ<br />

vet student’s calendar is never empty, just the way it<br />

should be!<br />

<br />

I am a mentor under the AVA<br />

Queensland − Cenvet New Graduate Support Scheme<br />

and I wish to let everyone know what a worthwhile and<br />

very important scheme this is.<br />

The first words of my newly graduated mentee, when I<br />

made contact, were “Thank God you’ve called, I’m having<br />

a really difficult time in my first job and need someone<br />

to talk to!”<br />

You can never underestimate the pressure new graduates<br />

are under – the floor has been ripped out from under<br />

their feet. Everything is new – the job, the location,<br />

the profession, pressure of possible financial constraints<br />

on both clients and employers and, of course, being removed<br />

from an environment where they’ve been closely<br />

surrounded by supportive peers for the past five years. It<br />

can be hard to cope, while feeling overwhelmed and isolated.<br />

It can be difficult to find someone to talk to who is<br />

unbiased and removed from the situation yet who is supportive<br />

and able to fully empathise with the new graduate’s<br />

position.<br />

By having this scheme in place I’ve been trained, as a<br />

2<br />

mentor, with the necessary tools to help my mentee think<br />

logically through the difficulties he or she is having and to<br />

come up with a “game plan” to improve the situation.<br />

Regular follow-up calls and emails with the mentee ensure<br />

that the problems don’t become insurmountable –<br />

“a problem shared, is a problem halved”.<br />

I’m very enthusiastic and excited by, what I believe, is a<br />

necessary scheme that is well structured and provides<br />

training in important life skills. A scheme such as this<br />

was well overdue and it’s disappointing to think of veterinarians<br />

already lost to the profession because there was<br />

no such support available to them.<br />

The program is an absolute credit to Dr Jodie Wilson and<br />

the hard working AVA executive and administration<br />

team. I encourage all veterinarians out there to become<br />

a part of it. By giving back a little and looking after our<br />

newer graduates we minimise the risk that they may become<br />

disillusioned and “lost along the way”.<br />

The New Graduate Support Scheme can only serve to<br />

strengthen and unify this great profession of ours.


Editor’s Note<br />

Dr David Paxton<br />

In this issue are comments that research on transmission<br />

of Hendra virus to horses be undertaken more seriously.<br />

nauseous. While washing flying fox faeces off my car on<br />

many occasions, I have noticed, and railed at, their molasses-like<br />

There is an article on the ecological importance of flying<br />

tenacity. Remembering my colleague’s experi-<br />

foxes. There is a statement from the Minister for Agriculture<br />

ence, I have resisted the temptation to have a taste.<br />

that a more concerted research effort is being In this issue is an important situation report on farm animal<br />

planned. Among the comments is reference to HeV in welfare in the European Union. The pluses seem to outnumber<br />

the minuses, and huge food marketers are react-<br />

mosquitoes. There is a great deal that needs to be learned<br />

because the risk is real.<br />

ing positively to consumer demands for ethical production.<br />

Other comments the Editor is aware of are the possibilities<br />

of transmission by, for example, cockroaches moving between<br />

feed troughs and leaf litter under flying fox colonies,<br />

and through spread by ectoparasites of the flying foxes. A<br />

This is to the good while the EU stays affluent and consumers<br />

exercise choice. Less affluent cultures are rapidly<br />

becoming wealthier and this may provide opportunities for<br />

better standards globally.<br />

thought which occurs to me is that millions of <strong>Australian</strong>s It is highly recommended that readers see the motion picture<br />

film Red Dog. Remember to turn off your mobile<br />

enjoy − indeed, relish − the regurgitations of Apis mellifera,<br />

the European honey bee, which is an active feeder on nectar<br />

and an important pollinator. Presumably, over millen-<br />

Koko the dog, in several guises, acts out some quite com-<br />

‘phone (or you might be assaulted) and take lots of tissues.<br />

nia, human beings have evolved an adaptation to any organisms<br />

present in honey. The faeces of nectar feeding cate with him at a deep level – mess with his head, like a<br />

plex emotions. Perhaps his keeper was able to communi-<br />

flying fox may be a confection for some horses, with the good director should. Serendipitously, in this issue of QN<br />

difference that the horses are only now being exposed significantly<br />

to HeV. It is sensible to protect horse feed and pathically.<br />

we have an article on communicating with animals tele-<br />

equipment from contamination by flying fox faeces in the<br />

I hosted Isobel Johnstone on a tour of Coochiemudlo on 6<br />

various ways that guidelines recommend. Dusty the dog<br />

<strong>September</strong>. Isobel communicated with 8 dogs, a donkey, a<br />

may have had a sweet tooth.<br />

goat, a sheep and a piglet. All animals are intensely socialised<br />

with people and well looked after. I am not at all<br />

Please note, I am NOT suggesting any reader sample flying<br />

19/10/09 fox faeces! It 3:43 could PM be dangerous. Page 1 Years ago, I tele-<br />

informed in this area. However to save leaving the reader<br />

NEW<br />

phoned a colleague at a research institute in a State Department<br />

of Agriculture: he groaned when he answered the seemed to be like communicating with a 3 to 4 year-old<br />

spell-bound, I add that the quality of communication<br />

telephone. He had, in a spirit of enquiry, just consumed child, with adult overtones.<br />

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Wild Dog Management Strategy Released<br />

The term “wild dog” refers collectively to purebred dingoes,<br />

dingo hybrids, and domestic dogs that have escaped<br />

or been deliberately released. In central southern<br />

Queensland a wild dog barrier fence protects 26.5 million<br />

hectares of sheep and cattle country from wild dog<br />

attacks.<br />

The wild dog is a Class 2 declared animal under Queensland<br />

legislation. It is the responsibility of landholders to<br />

control wild dogs on their land.<br />

A summary is given below.<br />

Readers are invited<br />

to visit the Queensland<br />

Government/DEEDI/<br />

Primary Industries and<br />

Fisheries website for the<br />

Wild Dog Management<br />

Strategy <strong>2011</strong>−16, including<br />

further information on<br />

Wild Dog Barrier Fence<br />

dingoes, impacts, control,<br />

fluroacetate baits, barrier fences and best practices.<br />

Executive Summary – Wild Dog Strategy:<br />

Wild dogs in Queensland have a number of adverse impacts.<br />

They attack livestock, prey on native species,<br />

spread disease, dilute ‘dingo’ genetics and threaten human<br />

safety and the general enjoyment of rural residential<br />

properties. The diverse nature of these impacts<br />

means that an integration of planning and control practices<br />

across local, regional, state and national levels is<br />

required. A blanket approach to wild dog management is<br />

not effective.<br />

Wild dogs are present in all areas of Queensland. In the<br />

remote and far western areas, the percentage of dingoes<br />

is higher, whereas in closely settled areas there is<br />

a higher percentage of hybrid animals.<br />

The challenges to the effective management of wild dog<br />

impacts in Queensland are significant.<br />

Changing land use, juxtaposition of different land uses,<br />

environmental factors, the increasing proportion of hybrid<br />

animals and varying community attitudes are some<br />

of these challenges.<br />

As wild dogs are declared Class 2 pest animals, land<br />

managers in Queensland—private individuals, companies,<br />

local and state government agencies—have a legal<br />

responsibility under the Land Protection (Pest and<br />

Stock Route Management) Act 2002 to control wild dogs<br />

on their land.<br />

This strategy sets a framework for coordinating the actions<br />

of all stakeholders, which will maximise the effective<br />

use of physical and economic resources used for<br />

wild dog management in Queensland.<br />

Vision<br />

The impact of wild dogs on Queensland’s biodiversity,<br />

agricultural assets and social values is minimised.<br />

Desired outcomes<br />

The strategic actions for wild dog management in<br />

Queensland will be delivered, based on five desired outcomes.<br />

The first three of these desired outcomes are<br />

based on management zones, the other two are common<br />

to all zones.<br />

Desired outcomes based on management<br />

zones<br />

1. Zero tolerance of wild dogs inside the WDBF<br />

• Reduce wild dog numbers and impacts to as<br />

close to zero as is practicable.<br />

2. Control wild dogs elsewhere in the State<br />

• Achieve effective control of wild dogs across all<br />

tenures.<br />

3. Reduce wild dog impacts in the coastal, periurban<br />

and rural residential management zones<br />

• Wild dog impacts in the coastal, peri-urban and<br />

rural residential management zones are reduced<br />

through community action.<br />

Desired outcomes common to all zones<br />

(Statewide)<br />

4. The community is informed and committed to wild<br />

dog management and has the most current control<br />

methods and management techniques available<br />

• Develop and implement a communication and<br />

extension program to ensure landholders are<br />

aware of their responsibility in rural areas<br />

• Develop and implement a communication and<br />

extension program to ensure that all stakeholders<br />

are aware of their responsibility and the<br />

need to control wild dogs in peri-urban areas<br />

• Develop improved control practices.<br />

5. Conservation of dingo populations in Queensland<br />

• Maintain an understanding of currently available<br />

science on dingo genetic identification techniques<br />

and population ecology<br />

• Manage populations of dingoes of conservation<br />

significance<br />

• Balance the conservation of the dingo with other<br />

management<br />

objectives, including<br />

the protection<br />

of rural<br />

enterprises and<br />

public safety.<br />

5


Shared Approach To Wild Dog Management<br />

Minister for Agriculture, Food and<br />

Regional Economies Tim Mulherin released a finalised<br />

Wild Dog Management Strategy for Queensland on 20<br />

July, <strong>2011</strong>. Updated from the 2002 Wild Dog Strategy,<br />

the new <strong>2011</strong> – 2016 document is a result of a review<br />

by the Queensland Wild Dog Offensive Group (QDOG)<br />

in conjunction with key stakeholders.<br />

Minster Mulherin said the aim of the latest Strategy was<br />

multi-pronged, addressing social, economic and conservation<br />

issues. The Strategy will assist stakeholders in<br />

developing integrated management plans for their sites<br />

to effectively manage wild dogs in the longer-term. Its<br />

purpose is also to minimise the overall impact wild dogs<br />

have on Queensland's livestock industries, to reduce<br />

stress caused to landholders, and address biodiversity<br />

issues..<br />

Actions for managing wild dogs in Queensland will be<br />

based around five desired outcomes:<br />

zero tolerance of wild dogs inside the wild dog barrier<br />

fence<br />

control of wild dogs elsewhere in the state<br />

reduction of wild dog impacts in the coastal, periurban<br />

and rural residential management zone<br />

keeping the community informed and committed to<br />

wild dog management<br />

conservation of dingo populations in Queensland.<br />

QDOG chair Brent Finlay said all land managers, public<br />

and private, have a responsibility to participate in the<br />

renewed focus on wild dog management to effectively<br />

mitigate the problem. As QDOG's aim is to source and<br />

<br />

Hello from the EO’s desk— Amanda Pollard<br />

We recently held a very successful final Infection Control<br />

Workshop in conjunction with the Roma Round Up.<br />

This event was well attended by over 30 veterinarians<br />

and veterinary nurses. The Roma Round Up was a<br />

Provet and AVA (Darling Downs Branch) initiative and<br />

those who attended were treated to a great educational<br />

and social program over the weekend!<br />

At this event AVA Qld presented Ms Patricia Coward<br />

with an AVA MSA Award for her contribution to the<br />

AVA, particularly the Qld Division through her participation<br />

in this Infection Control training of our members.<br />

The collective efforts of these Infection Control presenters;<br />

Dr Sue Fowkes, Dr Robert Hedlefs, Dr Bruce Pott<br />

and Dr Andrew Easton (AVA Qld), Trish Coward<br />

(Workplace Health and Safety Qld), Lawrence Gavey,<br />

Rick Whittle and Louise Mullemeister (DEEDI) and<br />

Nicolette Newell (REM Systems) along with our sponsors<br />

– DEEDI, Provet, CH2 and REM Systems have<br />

made these workshops possible. Over the last three<br />

years nine workshops were conducted and over 250<br />

vets and vet nurses have attended these events. A<br />

great effort from all involved!<br />

We have also held a number of other geat events<br />

throughout the state providing fabulous learning and<br />

manage the resources to mitigate the impacts wild dogs<br />

on the livestock industries, communities and the environment,<br />

we welcome the refocus and intensifying of<br />

efforts to control wild dogs across the State. The good<br />

season has seen an explosion in the number of wild<br />

dogs and we urge all landowners to use all tools available<br />

to address this problem in a coordinated and strategic<br />

manner.<br />

Member for Mount Isa Betty Kiernan welcomed today’s<br />

announcement, saying stakeholder support had been<br />

generally strong for the Wild Dog Management Strategy.<br />

The Queensland Government has taken on board<br />

stakeholders’ views and she is confident the strategy<br />

will allow for greater control of wild dogs in Queensland,<br />

while maintaining a balance with conservation.<br />

Biosecurity Queensland received 66 Strategy review<br />

submissions and these were essential in producing the<br />

improved document for stakeholder implementation<br />

across Queensland. Several challenges have been addressed,<br />

including the availability of funding and resources<br />

and the difficulties in controlling wild dogs in<br />

peri-urban environments. The strategy also emphasises<br />

the importance of the humane control of wild dogs<br />

in response to concerns from animal welfare groups.<br />

The term ‘wild dog’ refers collectively to purebred dingoes,<br />

dingo hybrids, and domestic dogs that have escaped<br />

or been released. Wild dogs are Class 2 declared<br />

pests under Queensland legislation and it is the<br />

responsibility of all landholders to control wild dogs on<br />

their land.<br />

The Wild Dog Management Strategy <strong>2011</strong>-16 can be<br />

downloaded from www.biosecurity.qld.gov.au<br />

social opportunities for members. These have included<br />

the very well attended AVA Qld Division, Hill’s Pet Nutrition<br />

and AVDS Dental Workshop held at Gatton, another<br />

(sixteenth in fact!) very successful Sunshine Coast<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Industry Golf Day, BVP President’s Drinks<br />

and BVP Race Day. Some Branches have also held<br />

dinner meetings and evening get-togethers. Our Central<br />

Queensland, North Queensland and BVP Branches still<br />

have some fabulous events planned for later in the year.<br />

Check out the advertisements in this newsletter or contact<br />

AVA Qld for further information on upcoming<br />

Branch and Division events. You can also check out<br />

upcoming events on the AVA website at http://<br />

www.ava.com.au/Events . Don’t forget to save the date<br />

for the AVA Qld Division Conference 23-25 March 2012,<br />

at the Gold Coast.<br />

AVA Representatives have been extremely busy over<br />

the last few months representing AVA Qld in a variety of<br />

forums. These have included meeting with the VSB,<br />

DEEDI, Q Health, QWH&S, Industry and other <strong>Association</strong>s<br />

(Pharmacy Guild). In mid-<strong>September</strong> the AVA Qld<br />

committee and branch representatives will meet for two<br />

days of planning. During this planning session we will<br />

set our strategic direction for the year ahead. We will be<br />

joined for this meeting by Debbie Neutze, National<br />

Strategy and Services Manager from AVA National.<br />

6


Farm Animal Law: Reflections From The European Union<br />

Peter Stevenson (Chief Policy Advisor of Compassion in World Farming) courtesy of Voiceless<br />

The European Union (EU) comprises<br />

27 Member States with a population of 502 million<br />

and 23 official languages. It is the world’s largest<br />

importer of agricultural products and together with the<br />

United States is the world’s leading agri-food exporter.<br />

Three institutions combine to formulate EU legislation.<br />

Under the EU Treaty, it is only the European Commission<br />

that can propose new legislation. The Commission’s<br />

proposal is then considered and developed by the<br />

European Parliament and the Council of Ministers who<br />

must jointly agree upon the legislation in a co-decision<br />

procedure. In the case of agriculture and farm animal<br />

welfare the Council consists of the Agriculture Ministers<br />

of the Member States.<br />

EU legislation takes the form of Directives or Regulations.<br />

Both are legally binding.<br />

<br />

Sentient beings<br />

EU legislation on animal protection is underpinned by<br />

the EU Treaty which recognises animals as “sentient<br />

beings”.<br />

In 1991 we presented to the European Parliament a petition<br />

with over one million signatures calling for animals<br />

to be given a new status in law as “sentient beings”.<br />

This led initially to a Declaration recognising animals as<br />

sentient beings, being annexed to the Treaty of Rome –<br />

the EU’s founding Treaty. The Declaration, though welcome,<br />

was non-binding. We continued to lobby and a<br />

few years later a legally binding Protocol was annexed<br />

to the Treaty and eventually in 2007 a full Article was<br />

inserted into the body of the Treaty.<br />

Article 13 of the Treaty provides that in:<br />

“formulating and implementing the Union’s agriculture,<br />

fisheries, transport, internal market, research... policies,<br />

the Union and the Member States shall, since animals<br />

are sentient beings, pay full regard to the welfare requirements<br />

of animals”.<br />

Ban on barren battery cages<br />

In 1996 the EU’s expert body – then called the Scientific<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Committee – produced a report which<br />

stressed that hens have powerful drives to lay their eggs<br />

in a nest, peck and scratch in the ground, dust-bathe<br />

and perch. None of these natural behaviours is possible<br />

in the battery cage. The report concluded that “because<br />

of its small size and its barrenness, the battery cage as<br />

used at present has inherent severe disadvantages for<br />

the welfare of hens”.<br />

On the basis of this report the Commission proposed a<br />

Directive that would give hens a little more space in their<br />

cages. We then lobbied the Parliament arguing that if<br />

the EU wished to make good its claim to base its decisions<br />

on the scientific evidence it should prohibit battery<br />

cages - not just make them a bit bigger.<br />

We also pointed out that industry data show that the<br />

extra farm-level costs of producing barn or free range<br />

eggs rather than battery eggs were relatively small.<br />

Consumers could change to non-cage eggs for just a<br />

few pence each per week − provided that the supermarkets<br />

charged no more extra than was needed to cover<br />

the additional cost of producing these eggs.<br />

The Parliament and the Council listened to these arguments,<br />

rejected the Commission’s proposal and in 1999<br />

banned the use of barren battery cages as from 1st<br />

January 2012. Many egg producers and a number of<br />

Member States have pressed for the ban to be postponed<br />

but the Commission, the Parliament and the<br />

Council have all stressed that there is no justification for<br />

postponement and that the ban must come into force as<br />

scheduled in 2012. It is heartening to see government<br />

holding firm in the face of intense pressure.<br />

Farmers were given an extremely generous phase out<br />

period of 12.5 years, the thinking being that during this<br />

period a substantial proportion of cages would come to<br />

the end of their working life and so farmers would in any<br />

event have to invest in new housing.<br />

A key factor that gives authority and integrity to EU legislation<br />

in this field is the fact that it is based on scientific<br />

evidence. Before the Commission draws up proposed<br />

legislation, it receives a detailed report from its expert<br />

body; today this is the Scientific Panel on Animal Health<br />

and Welfare of the European Food Safety Authority.<br />

This report reviews the relevant scientific literature.<br />

From 2012 only three systems will be lawful in the EU:<br />

free range, barn and, regrettably, “enriched” cages.<br />

These cages provide just a little extra space as compared<br />

with barren battery cages and perches, a nest<br />

box and litter. However, these facilities are so meagre<br />

and the extra space so small that enriched cages cannot<br />

properly fulfil the birds’ welfare needs. We are<br />

pressing farmers not to use enriched cages.<br />

The ban on barren cages is being increasingly supported<br />

by retailers and other food businesses, many of<br />

whom are going further and are also refusing to sell or<br />

use eggs from enriched cages. All German, Dutch, Belgian<br />

and Austrian supermarket chains are now cagefree<br />

on shell eggs. Many UK retailers are cage-free on<br />

shell eggs and some are cage-free on products that<br />

contain egg as an ingredient.<br />

McDonald's is the EU’s largest food service company.<br />

Over 90% of McDonald’s eggs across 23 EU countries<br />

are now free-range. Unilever, one of the EU largest<br />

food manufacturers, is cage-free in its mayonnaise and<br />

dressings across Western Europe and has committed to<br />

use only cage-free eggs in the Czech Republic, Poland,<br />

Slovakia and Hungary.<br />

Breeding sows<br />

There are two main kinds of pigs on farms: breeding<br />

sows whose role is to produce piglets and fattening pigs<br />

who are reared for their meat.<br />

In intensive production most sows are confined through-<br />

7


out their 16.5 week pregnancy in sow stalls. These<br />

metal-barred stalls are so narrow that the sow cannot<br />

even turn around. She is kept like this for one pregnancy<br />

after another, i.e. for most of her adult life. In an<br />

alternative version, the back of the stall is open so, to<br />

prevent her escaping, the sow is tethered to the floor by<br />

a neck or belly chain.<br />

In 1991 the EU banned the tethering of sows from 2006.<br />

Then in 1997 the Scientific <strong>Veterinary</strong> Committee published<br />

a report that was highly critical of sow stalls.<br />

Armed with this and economic data showing that housing<br />

sows in groups added little to the cost of producing<br />

pork, we pressed for an EU ban on stalls.<br />

The industry responded by stressing the risk of aggression<br />

among group housed sows. We pointed out that<br />

many UK farmers had been using group housing for<br />

some years and had learned that the way to prevent<br />

aggression lies in avoiding competition at feeding and<br />

not mixing unfamiliar sows.<br />

My experience is that politicians will only agree to a reform<br />

if they are convinced firstly that it enjoys wide public<br />

support, secondly that it is supported by scientific<br />

evidence, thirdly that it will not lead to a significant increase<br />

in costs and fourthly that the proposed alternatives<br />

are viable i.e. that they will not cause more problems<br />

than they solve.<br />

In this case, politicians were convinced and in 2001 the<br />

EU enacted a ban on sow stalls. This comes into force<br />

on 1 January 2013. From that date sows will have to be<br />

housed in groups.<br />

Unfortunately, the legislation allows, even after 2013,<br />

sows to be kept in stalls for the first four weeks of the<br />

pregnancy; this provision is criticised in a 2007 report by<br />

the European Food Safety Authority which concludes<br />

that allowing sows to be kept in stalls until four weeks<br />

after mating severely restricts their freedom of movement<br />

and causes stress, and that the lack of exercise<br />

leads to impaired bone and muscular strength and reduced<br />

cardiovascular fitness. In the UK and Sweden<br />

gestation stalls have been banned for many years and<br />

the bans apply throughout the pregnancy; there is no<br />

“first four weeks” exception.<br />

I would like to see sows being kept outdoors or indoors<br />

in pens with a deep bed of straw. In the UK 40% of<br />

sows are kept free range.<br />

Fattening pigs<br />

In industrial systems, most fattening pigs are kept indoors<br />

in conditions of extreme deprivation – in overcrowded,<br />

barren, often dirty sheds. Most are kept on bare concrete<br />

or fully slatted floors with no straw or other bedding.<br />

Stocking densities are often high.<br />

In order to improve pig welfare, the EU Pigs Directive has<br />

since 2003 required pigs to “have permanent access to a<br />

sufficient quantity of material to enable proper investigation<br />

and manipulation activities”. The Directive requires<br />

provision of materials “such as straw, hay, wood, sawdust,<br />

mushroom compost, peat”.<br />

Scientific research shows that in natural conditions pigs<br />

are highly active, spending 75% of their day rooting, for-<br />

aging and exploring. Such activities are impossible for<br />

factory farmed pigs. Bored and frustrated, they turn to<br />

the only other “thing” in their bare pens: the tails of other<br />

pigs. They begin to chew and then bite those tails.<br />

To prevent tail biting, farmers slice off (dock) part of the<br />

piglet’s tail. However, scientific research shows that the<br />

correct way to prevent tail biting is not to dock the tails<br />

but to keep the pigs in good conditions. Recognising<br />

this, the Directive has since 2003 prohibited routine tail<br />

docking.<br />

The Directive requires farmers to try to prevent tail biting<br />

by improving inadequate conditions. Only when they<br />

have done this are they permitted, if they still have a tail<br />

biting problem, to tail dock. A scientific report by the<br />

European Food Safety Authority concludes that the major<br />

causes of tail biting are lack of straw and a barren<br />

environment. Thus a farmer who does not provide<br />

straw or some similarly effective material has not<br />

changed “inadequate conditions” and so cannot lawfully<br />

tail dock.<br />

Currently, many pig farmers are failing to comply with<br />

the law on enrichment and tail docking but we are working<br />

hard to secure improved enforcement of these crucial<br />

laws which, if properly enforced, would make it impossible<br />

to keep pigs in barren factory farms.<br />

The castration of pigs by means that involve the tearing<br />

of tissues has been prohibited in the EU since 2003.<br />

Despite this most male pigs continue to be surgically<br />

castrated which invariably entails the tearing of tissues.<br />

In order to achieve improved compliance, the Commission<br />

has brought key stakeholders together and, in an<br />

interesting interplay between the law and voluntary action,<br />

a number of EU pig farmers and other stakeholders<br />

have agreed in the <strong>2011</strong> European Declaration on alternatives<br />

to surgical castration of pigs:<br />

from 1 January 2012, that surgical castration of pigs,<br />

if carried out, shall be performed with prolonged analgesia<br />

and/or anaesthesia, and<br />

secondly, surgical castration should be abandoned<br />

by 1 January 2018.<br />

Veal crates<br />

In the veal crate system the calf is kept in a solid-sided<br />

crate of wood, which is so narrow that he cannot even<br />

turn around from the age of two weeks.<br />

Peter Roberts, the founder of Compassion in World<br />

Farming, brought a private prosecution against a UK<br />

veal crate farm run, ironically, by monks. The prosecution<br />

failed but led to such a high degree of public concern<br />

that the UK government banned veal crates from<br />

1990.<br />

In the early 90’s the UK exported 500,000 calves a year<br />

to continental veal crates even though the system had<br />

been banned in the UK. The UK also exported 2 million<br />

sheep a year for slaughter abroad. The live export<br />

trade was strongly opposed by the public but the government<br />

argued that under the EU’s free trade rules<br />

they could not ban calf exports.<br />

We brought judicial review proceedings against the gov-<br />

8


ernment, arguing that they had misadvised themselves<br />

as to the law. The case went all the way to the European<br />

Court. The case was lost but again had led to<br />

widespread awareness of the cruelty of veal crates.<br />

At the same time, a 1995 report by the EU Scientific<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Committee was highly critical of this system.<br />

Pursuant to this report and public pressure, in 1997 the<br />

EU banned the use of veal crates from 2007.<br />

UK live exports have fallen dramatically since the mid<br />

90’s though there continues to be a trade and we continue<br />

to campaign against it.<br />

Chickens reared for meat<br />

Broilers are the chickens reared for meat. Intensively<br />

reared broilers are kept in huge windowless sheds that<br />

are so overcrowded that, as the birds grow bigger, one<br />

can barely see the floor so thickly is it “carpeted” with<br />

chickens. Up to 50,000 chickens may be crammed into<br />

one of these sheds.<br />

The Broilers Directive, which came into force in 2010, is<br />

disappointing. The Directive allows the broilers to be<br />

stocked up to a maximum of 39 kg/m2. As chickens<br />

weigh around 2 kg at slaughter 39 kg/m2 means that 19<br />

chickens are crammed into each square metre; this<br />

represents severe overcrowding.<br />

Despite its limitations, the Directive has made a start to<br />

legislating in this field. The EU has a good record in<br />

strengthening its legislation over time. For example, the<br />

1991 Pigs Directive only banned the tethering of sows<br />

whereas the 2001 Directive went further and prohibited<br />

the use of sow stalls. Hopefully in time the Broilers Directive<br />

will also be strengthened.<br />

Antibiotics<br />

Antibiotics are used in three ways in industrial farming:<br />

therapeutically, as growth promoters and as prophylactics<br />

to prevent disease. Antibiotics are regularly added<br />

to the feed and water of industrially reared animals to<br />

suppress the diseases that would otherwise be inevitable<br />

when large numbers of animals are crammed together<br />

in overcrowded conditions.<br />

It has for many years been clear that the over-use of<br />

antibiotics in industrial farming is contributing to the<br />

emergence of bacteria that are resistant not only to the<br />

antibiotics used in farming but to related antibiotics<br />

used to treat serious human illness.<br />

Alert to this danger the EU banned the use of antibiotics<br />

as growth promoters in 2006. However, the very considerable<br />

prophylactic use of antibiotics means that antibiotic<br />

use in farming continues to pose a threat. In<br />

April this year the World Health Organisation said “the<br />

use of antibiotics in food animal production contributes<br />

to increased drug resistance. Approximately half of current<br />

antibiotic production is used in agriculture, to promote<br />

growth and prevent disease as well as to treat<br />

sick animals. With such massive use, those drug resistant<br />

microbes generated in animals can be later transferred<br />

to humans.”<br />

The time has come for the use of antibiotics as growth<br />

promoters and as prophylactics to be prohibited world-<br />

9<br />

wide. The only legitimate use of antibiotics in farming is<br />

therapeutically, to treat individual sick animals. The<br />

prevention of disease should be achieved not by the<br />

use of antibiotics but by good housing, husbandry and<br />

hygiene.<br />

Cloning and genetic engineering<br />

Just as the EU begins to unravel some of the worst aspects<br />

of factory farming, new threats appear.<br />

The aim of cloning is to produce genetically identical<br />

copies of the highest yielding cows and fastest growing<br />

pigs. Most clones die during pregnancy. Of those that<br />

survive, many die in the early stages of life from a range<br />

of problems including cardiovascular failure, respiratory<br />

difficulties or defective immune systems. Pregnancy<br />

abnormalities, difficult births and Caesarean sections<br />

are all more common with clones.<br />

Cloning is arguably unlawful under EU Directive 98/58<br />

which provides that: “Natural or artificial breeding or<br />

breeding procedures which cause or are likely to cause<br />

suffering or injury to any of the animals concerned must<br />

not be practised.” However, the position should be<br />

clarified by passing a law that expressly addresses<br />

cloning.<br />

The European Parliament recently considered a proposed<br />

new Regulation on Novel Foods and voted for a<br />

ban − on animal welfare and ethical grounds − on the<br />

sale of meat and dairy products from clones and their<br />

descendants. The Commission and the Council were<br />

willing to ban the sale of food from clones but not from<br />

their descendants. The Parliament rightly argued that if<br />

the sale of food from the descendants is permitted,<br />

cloning − with all its adverse impact on welfare – will be<br />

encouraged. The Parliament refused to dilute its position<br />

and eventually the conciliation procedure between<br />

the Parliament and the Council mandated by the EU<br />

Treaty failed to produce an agreement. Accordingly,<br />

the talks on the Regulation collapsed. This is the first<br />

time that the Parliament has felt so strongly that they<br />

have rejected major new legislation which was not primarily<br />

about animal welfare because of its adverse implications<br />

for animal welfare.<br />

The Commission will now have to produce a new proposal.<br />

I hope this will lead not just to a ban on the sale<br />

of food from clones and their offspring but a prohibition<br />

on the use of clones and their offspring on EU farms.<br />

Hot on the heels of cloning comes genetic engineering.<br />

The Commission has commissioned a study to provide<br />

policy recommendations regarding the development<br />

and commercialisation of genetically engineered animals<br />

in the EU.<br />

Genetic engineering often involves inserting a gene<br />

from one species into another species. For example<br />

human growth genes have been inserted into pigs with<br />

the aim of producing faster growth. All too often genetic<br />

engineering entails animal suffering.<br />

Legislation is urgently needed to prohibit both cloning<br />

and genetic engineering. The EU has previously acted<br />

positively in this field. In 1999 the EU prohibited the<br />

use of Bovine Somatotrophin (BST). Bovine Somatotrophin<br />

is a genetically engineered version of the dairy


cow’s own growth hormone. It is administered to dairy<br />

cows to boost their milk yield despite that fact that yields<br />

are already so high that they have a detrimental impact<br />

on welfare. The EU’s prohibition is based on a report by<br />

the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal<br />

Welfare which concluded that “BST administration<br />

causes substantially ... poorer welfare because of increased<br />

foot disorders, mastitis, reproductive disorders<br />

and other production-related diseases.”<br />

Economic considerations<br />

A key constraint to the EU – or other countries – introducing<br />

higher welfare standards is the cost of doing so.<br />

There is a perception that improved welfare entails substantially<br />

increased costs for farmers and much higher<br />

food prices for consumers. In some cases this will be<br />

so. However, analysis of industry data shows that in certain<br />

cases higher welfare farming adds little to farm level<br />

production costs. For example, a free range egg costs<br />

just over 2 UK pence – 3 <strong>Australian</strong> cents − more to produce<br />

than a battery egg and housing sows in groups<br />

rather than stalls adds just 1-2 eurocents – at most 3<br />

<strong>Australian</strong> cents - to the cost of producing 1 kg of pork.<br />

Moreover, improved welfare can lead to economic benefits.<br />

In better welfare systems, animals will tend to be<br />

healthier. This can lead to savings in terms of reduced<br />

expenditure on veterinary medicines and lower mortality<br />

rates. The provision of straw and/or additional space for<br />

finishing pigs can result in better feed conversion ratios<br />

and improved growth rates.<br />

We need to challenge the notion that enhanced welfare<br />

is always economically burdensome. Research is<br />

needed to identify win-win scenarios where better welfare<br />

can also produce economic benefits.<br />

World Trade Organisation<br />

Another major constraint is fear of the World Trade Organisation<br />

(WTO). The common view is that WTO member<br />

countries cannot restrict imports on animal welfare<br />

grounds. Hence the fear that any increase in EU welfare<br />

standards makes its farmers vulnerable to lower welfare<br />

and thus cheaper imports from outside Europe. It is this<br />

concern that led to the Broilers Directive being unambitious<br />

and that fuelled the attempts – happily unsuccessful<br />

– to delay the ban on battery cages.<br />

In fact this fear is not necessarily borne out by recent<br />

WTO case law. Article 3 provides that imported products<br />

must be afforded treatment no less favourable than<br />

“like” domestic products. The conventional wisdom is<br />

that in determining whether two products are not “like”<br />

one another – and so capable of being accorded different<br />

treatment – no account may be taken of the way in<br />

which they have been produced. From this viewpoint<br />

battery eggs and free range eggs are “like” products.<br />

However, WTO case law has emphasised that, in assessing<br />

“likeness”, it is important to consider consumers’<br />

tastes and habits, their perceptions and behaviour. If<br />

consumers view two products as different products because<br />

of the way in which they have been produced, the<br />

WTO may be prepared to accept that they are not “like”<br />

products. And that would mean that it would be permissible<br />

for one product − that which has been produced<br />

10<br />

inhumanely – to be treated less favourably than a humanely<br />

produced version of the product.<br />

Moreover, even where a measure is found to be inconsistent<br />

with the WTO rules it may be possible to justify it<br />

under the Article XX Exceptions. These permit measures<br />

to be taken that are necessary to protect, inter alia,<br />

public morals and animal health. WTO case law used to<br />

interpret these exceptions very restrictively but more recently<br />

it has been giving a wider scope to the exceptions.<br />

Clearly the WTO continues to place tough restrictions on<br />

trade-related measures but it has nonetheless been accepting<br />

the need to find a proper balance between trade<br />

liberalisation and other legitimate public policy considerations.<br />

The EU has to a degree recognised this and,<br />

accordingly its new Regulation on slaughter, requires<br />

imported meat to be derived from animals that have<br />

been slaughtered to welfare standards equivalent to<br />

those of the EU.<br />

The inefficiencies of industrial livestock production<br />

We are often told that industrial livestock production is<br />

necessary to feed the growing world population. That it<br />

is super-efficient. But is it? Industrial production is dependent<br />

on feeding substantial quantities of cereals and<br />

soy to animals. Research shows that the nutritional<br />

value consumed by animals in eating a given quantity of<br />

cereals is much greater than that delivered for humans<br />

by the resultant meat. Using cereals and soy as animal<br />

feed is a wasteful use not just of these crops but of the<br />

scarce land, water and fossil fuel energy used to grow<br />

them.<br />

Through its dependence on feeding grain to animals,<br />

industrial livestock production is responsible for pollution.<br />

Much of the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser used to grow<br />

feed crops for animals and the nitrogen in concentrate<br />

animal feed is not absorbed by the crops and animals<br />

and runs off to pollute water and aquatic ecosystems. A<br />

new UN report states that “Intensive livestock production<br />

is probably the largest sector-specific source of water<br />

pollution”.<br />

The drive to grow more animal feed has been a major<br />

factor in the intensification of crop production which is<br />

leading to erosion of biodiversity. Huge swathes of biodiversity-rich<br />

tropical rainforest and savannah are being<br />

cleared in South America to grow soy to feed industrially<br />

produced livestock. This releases huge amounts of<br />

stored carbon into the atmosphere, thereby contributing<br />

to climate change.<br />

The high levels of meat consumption that have been<br />

made possible by industrial production are having an<br />

adverse impact on human health. Some meat and dairy<br />

products can be high in saturated fat; which is linked<br />

with obesity and an increased risk of heart disease and<br />

certain cancers. The recent UN report states that “the<br />

number of undernourished people worldwide (1 billion) is<br />

matched by the number of those who are overfed and<br />

obese”.<br />

These various damaging impacts are referred to as<br />

“negative externalities”. These represent a market fail-


ure in that the costs associated with them are borne by<br />

third parties or society as a whole and are not included<br />

in the costs paid by farmers or the prices paid by consumers<br />

of livestock products. There is growing recognition<br />

by bodies such as the World Bank and the UN Food<br />

and Agriculture Organisation of the need to internalise<br />

these externalities in the costs of meat and dairy production<br />

and thus in the price paid by consumers.<br />

Conclusion<br />

In conclusion, it is clear, using the EU as a case study,<br />

that legislation has a pivotal role to play in improving the<br />

welfare of farm animals. We must work closely with researchers<br />

(who provide the scientific rationale for legislative<br />

improvements) and economists as we develop a<br />

greater understanding of how better welfare can sometimes<br />

be economically beneficial and how industrial production’s<br />

adverse impact on the environment, biodiversity<br />

and human health and its inefficient use of crops,<br />

water, land and energy entail very real costs.<br />

End Note<br />

Voiceless was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Brian<br />

Sherman and his daughter Ondine Sherman. Its pri-<br />

mary focus areas are factory farming, the kangaroo industry<br />

and animal law. It aims to bring the institutionalised<br />

suffering of animals to the forefront of Australia’s<br />

agenda, ensuring that animal protection is the next great<br />

social justice movement. Voiceless operates by:<br />

creating and fostering networks of leading lawyers,<br />

politicians, businesspeople and professionals, to influence<br />

law, policy, business practices and public opinion;<br />

conducting high quality research and analysis of animal<br />

industries, exposing legalised cruelty and promoting<br />

informed debate;<br />

creating a groundswell for social change by building<br />

and fortifying the <strong>Australian</strong> animal protection movement<br />

with Grants and Prizes, and by growing animal<br />

law as a mainstream practice area advocating for<br />

change in the courts and in legislation; and<br />

informing consumers and empowering them to make<br />

animal-friendly choices.<br />

Major sponsors include the Berg Family Foundation and<br />

Hunter Hall International Ltd.<br />

GPS Tracking For Flying Foxes In Hendra Virus Research First<br />

In an <strong>Australian</strong> first, Queensland<br />

scientists are fitting flying foxes with GPS data loggers<br />

in an effort to find out where they are going and what<br />

they’re up to.<br />

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Regional Economies<br />

Tim Mulherin said this technology is being used as part<br />

of a range of ongoing Hendra Virus research being undertaken<br />

in Queensland. “When attached to a flying<br />

fox, the GPS data loggers tell us whether the bat is<br />

feeding, sleeping or flying, and where it is flying to,” Mr<br />

Mulherin said. “This will help us better understand<br />

movement between colonies, which in turn helps modelling<br />

when looking at the spread of Hendra virus between<br />

bat populations. By researching flying fox movements<br />

we can provide a clearer picture of why there are<br />

more confirmed cases of Hendra virus in some years<br />

and during certain months. This technology will allow<br />

us to measure movement to a very fine degree over a<br />

period of weeks, to build up a detailed picture of animal<br />

movements at a regional level.”<br />

Mr Mulherin said yesterday’s (25 August <strong>2011</strong>) announcement<br />

by Biosecurity Queensland of the eleventh<br />

positive Hendra case in a horse in Queensland this<br />

year, again heightens the importance of our ongoing<br />

research.<br />

“The recently announced additional $12 million in funding<br />

from Queensland, NSW and Commonwealth Governments<br />

will continue to expand and accelerate this<br />

research,” he said. “We acknowledge there is much<br />

more research needed to understand the virus. The<br />

Bligh Government is providing the funding needed for<br />

our internationally renowned scientists to accelerate<br />

<br />

this research. This ongoing Hendra virus research<br />

builds on our knowledge that bats are a natural reservoir<br />

for the virus and its presence is widespread but<br />

fluctuates throughout their populations. Each incident<br />

we deal with helps increase our knowledge base about<br />

this disease. We need to ensure we are working toward<br />

a safer environment for horse owners, vets and<br />

the community. Using cutting edge technology such as<br />

these GPS data loggers helps us to achieve this goal.”<br />

Queensland scientists have previously used the technology<br />

overseas while co-leading flying fox movement<br />

behaviour research for the United Nations Food and<br />

Agriculture Organisation in The Philippines.<br />

Current Hendra Virus research includes:<br />

three year study into the frequency of Hendra virus<br />

infection and excretion in flying foxes in northern<br />

Australia<br />

three year study begun earlier this year looking at<br />

Hendra virus strain diversity in Queensland and<br />

northern Australia<br />

identifying the risk factors for Hendra virus incidents<br />

in horses (including risk mapping)<br />

modelling the infection in flying foxes<br />

examining interactions between horses and nocturnal<br />

wildlife<br />

modelling flying fox-horse-human interactions.<br />

11


Hendra Virus Concerns: comments from concerned members — The following comments<br />

were received by email to the Executive during July and are reproduced here to stimulate thought and debate<br />

The <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Veterinary</strong> <strong>Association</strong> through Equine<br />

Veterinarians Australia should make known, at the level<br />

of the Animal Health Committee and higher, that the real<br />

situation with HeV is not known. The Queensland government<br />

has not done enough to allow identification of<br />

all cases and to support the existing diagnostic service<br />

for horses and owners and veterinarians.<br />

Seventeen years have elapsed since the first case of<br />

Hendra virus was diagnosed in Queensland and in that<br />

time there has been no ongoing active surveillance for<br />

the disease in horses or any other animals.<br />

Initial surveys were ceased when flying foxes were determined<br />

to be the reservoir host but no work on how the<br />

disease is transferred to horses apart from observational<br />

work on flying fox colonies has been conducted.<br />

Initial screens detected the virus in a pooled sample of<br />

mosquito blood but no further work or publications appear<br />

to be produced.<br />

The true surveillance prevalence of HeV in horses, cats,<br />

dogs or pigs is not known nor seriously being investigated<br />

at present in Australia. All the work is in flying<br />

foxes.<br />

There is mis-information being presented on sites such<br />

as Promed and others which needs to be corrected by<br />

government publishing all work being undertaken and<br />

results of any surveillance or experimental work to the<br />

profession.<br />

Results of research are not being conveyed to veterinary<br />

practitioners and horse owners in a timely fashion<br />

nor is feedback accepted.<br />

The Queensland diagnostic testing protocol requires all<br />

samples to be consigned at owner’s (or veterinarian’s)<br />

expense to Brisbane on the basis that PC3 laboratory<br />

conditions are required to perform the diagnostic test.<br />

NSW has a single central laboratory but pays for transport<br />

of samples to encourage submission of suspect<br />

samples.<br />

No supportive testing is done, only Hendra exclusion,<br />

and during this time (up to four days) the animal as a<br />

Hendra suspect is under strict quarantine and no treatment<br />

is permitted.<br />

The tests for HeV do not require PC3, they can be undertaken<br />

in all laboratories, with training, and every<br />

laboratory must have a process to treat equine blood as<br />

potentially infectious regardless of the suspicions of the<br />

submitting veterinarian. Haematology is useful and<br />

should be done concurrently so the animal can be<br />

treated if possible. Equine encephalitis cases need to<br />

be considered as differential diagnoses: some of them<br />

are also fatal zoonoses.<br />

The costs of endemic diseases should be borne by the<br />

animal owners unless the public health benefits indicate<br />

there should be a public funding responsibility.<br />

The current quarantine policy is possibly infecting more<br />

horses and increasing the risk to human beings. Isolation<br />

is preferred to quarantine.<br />

12<br />

So, where to?<br />

The Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement<br />

describes Hendra virus as a Category 2 disease. This<br />

means the management of an outbreak may be funded<br />

under a cost sharing principle where industry contributes<br />

20 % of the agreed costs of the response. The equine<br />

industry has had arrangements in place since December<br />

2010 to collect moneys for disease control purposes<br />

from their members. This mechanism stayed the hand of<br />

the Agriculture Minister on allowing equine influenza<br />

vaccine importation and use by the thoroughbred industry.<br />

It would be nice to see this mechanism applied to<br />

more direct actions to control outbreaks of Hendra virus<br />

rather than emergency response at unexpected times<br />

and places.<br />

It would be ideal to see in future:<br />

Biosecurity Queensland develop a policy that for future<br />

incidents of any endemic diseases of horses,<br />

direct veterinary costs will be the responsibility of<br />

owners with the exception that the costs of isolation,<br />

confirmatory testing and control methods undertaken<br />

for reasons of public health will be the responsibility<br />

of Industry – Government sharing arrangements.<br />

Government promoting testing for HeV, Kunjin, MVE,<br />

RRV, etc by routine diagnostic pathology providers,<br />

with a system in place to support their competency.<br />

Where HeV is confirmed, any remaining ill horses are<br />

ordered to be isolated from other horses, not quarantined<br />

together and examined daily, which only increases<br />

the likely exposure between horse and human.<br />

A surveillance system that is open to consultation<br />

and review by veterinarians to ensure that satisfactory<br />

surveillance is undertaken annually in horse, cat,<br />

dog and pig populations in all States of Australia.<br />

A sound management program managed by Animal<br />

Health Australia that ensures everybody has access<br />

to correct and current information on infection control,<br />

incidence, research and vaccine progress.<br />

Apart from public opposition to the current system, it is<br />

difficult to see a way forward.<br />

Within Queensland, veterinarians need to hammer<br />

home the message that the current lack of collaboration<br />

with the practicing veterinary population is wrong. Providing<br />

immediate notification of public media releases is<br />

not sufficient to engage the profession in the science of<br />

detection, management and control of this disease.<br />

Refunding costs of gloves and other Personal Protective<br />

Equipment is not the issue to improve veterinary health<br />

and safety! The issue is the mind-set that makes a risk<br />

assessment unnecessary or poor and leads to a spiral<br />

of bad habits that puts everyone at risk. While public<br />

relations feel-good messages are the only ones reaching<br />

the inbox of veterinarians they will continue to believe<br />

this disease is random and rare. This disease is a


isk to our lives every day. The status of the disease<br />

now is very different to what was seen in 1994. How<br />

long will it take for the profession to refuse to accept the<br />

public spin from government and ask for serious responses<br />

to serious questions of veterinary science?<br />

It may be time to seek <strong>Veterinary</strong> Surgeons Board assistance<br />

to ensure an infection control program is a legal<br />

requirement for every veterinary premise registration.<br />

This may be the preferred option for government<br />

as it will cost government nothing to implement and<br />

compliance will be easy as they will come to the attention<br />

of public health officials at each incident. Does our<br />

profession want to be regulated by force?<br />

Something needs to be done urgently.<br />

Editor’s Note <br />

In this issue there is an announcement by Minister Mulhearn<br />

of proposed tracking of flying foxes and listing<br />

other recently commissioned research initiatives. Also<br />

in this issue is an article on the ecological importance of<br />

flying foxes. Clearly the above comments of concern<br />

underline that we may be dealing with an emerging disease<br />

and problem, the dimensions of which have been<br />

barely glimpsed. It is unsatisfactory for the problem to<br />

be dismissed as a rarity requiring little intellectual input.<br />

To treat or not to treat? That is the question. Whether it is nobler …<br />

Dr Justin Schooth, Gympie <strong>Veterinary</strong> Services<br />

Dr Justin Schooth, Gympie <strong>Veterinary</strong><br />

Services, writes to the Divisional Executive: We<br />

are often presented with the clinical/ethical dilemma of<br />

the client who does not have the money to pay for even<br />

an initial consult. What are our responsibilities with regards<br />

to seeing these clients/patients, either when the<br />

animal needs urgent (but not emergency) treatment or<br />

when the animal does need emergency attention?<br />

A couple of not-so-hypothetical examples Dr Schooth<br />

offers are:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Client rings up at night after hours with a fitting kitten<br />

and wants to be seen but doesn't have enough<br />

money to pay for initial after hours consult let alone<br />

any treatment or further workup.<br />

Client rings up after hours and has a horse that is<br />

colicky and needs attention. The client lives 85 km<br />

from clinic and has no money to pay for consultation<br />

or travel.<br />

The specific question is, are we required to see these<br />

patients and if so what level of treatment do we need to<br />

offer, given there is no prospect of receiving any remuneration<br />

for treating these animals?<br />

The Animal Care and Protection Act (AC&PA) address<br />

a veterinarian’s duty of care responsibilities but not ethics.<br />

The Registrar of the <strong>Veterinary</strong> Surgeons Board of<br />

Queensland advises that the Board has no jurisdiction<br />

in terms of ethics.<br />

Duty of care responsibilities under the<br />

AC&PA<br />

The owner always has a duty of care, even when the<br />

animal is temporarily in a veterinarian's care.<br />

A veterinarian, when examining and treating an animal,<br />

has temporary custody of the animal and so has a duty<br />

of care. The duty of care in this situation would include<br />

appropriate handling of the animal, providing appropriate<br />

conditions and, when an animal is held, appropriate<br />

housing. In deciding what is appropriate, regard must be<br />

made for the species, environment and circumstances<br />

of the animal and the steps that a veterinarian under<br />

thecircumstances would reasonably be expected to<br />

have taken. If an animal in the veterinarian´s custody is<br />

in pain, analgesics should be used appropriately. Any<br />

13<br />

manipulations undertaken without analgesia (e.g. to assist<br />

in diagnosis) should be kept to a minimum.<br />

The veterinarian´s duty of care to an animal extends to<br />

members of staff associated with the practice.<br />

The veterinarian does not have sole duty of care −<br />

rather it is a duty shared with the owner (or owner´s representative).<br />

The owner always has a duty of care even<br />

when the animal is temporarily in the care of the veterinarian.<br />

The animal´s owner, for example, is responsible for deciding<br />

what (if any) treatment that the veterinarian offers<br />

is given. The veterinarian is responsible for providing<br />

the owner with information on the animal welfare consequences<br />

of such decisions. If an animal suffers because<br />

of a decision (or lack of decision) by the owner who has<br />

been informed of the possible consequences, the owner<br />

is the responsible person.<br />

If the owner indicates a preferred treatment but is unable<br />

to pay for that treatment, the veterinarian may wish<br />

to negotiate further options. There are obviously professional<br />

ethical considerations that a veterinarian may<br />

wish to consider, however under the Animal Care and<br />

Protection Act 2001 (the ACPA), the owner is responsible<br />

for the animal. A lack of ability to pay does not pass<br />

that responsibility to the veterinarian.<br />

If a person brings an animal that has been found injured<br />

to a veterinarian, and the owner is not known, the veterinarian<br />

assumes a duty of care obligation if he/she accepts<br />

the care of the animal. If the animal´s owner is<br />

located, it is again a duty shared with the owner.<br />

There are numerous possible scenarios and circumstances<br />

that may occur where an animal is presented<br />

and the owner is not known. The ACPA does not define<br />

all possible circumstances; rather it qualifies the duty of<br />

care obligation to say that, in deciding what is appropriate,<br />

regard must be given to the circumstances and the<br />

steps a reasonable person would be expected to take. A<br />

veterinarian, acting reasonably, has nothing to fear from<br />

the AC&PA in this regard.<br />

The AC&PA, while allowing a veterinarian to euthanase<br />

animals, does not confer any right to do this. Inspectors,<br />

under the ACPA, and the police do have the power, under<br />

certain conditions, to destroy an animal if the in-


spector or officer believes it is cruel to keep it alive.<br />

For the sake of comparison, Dr Robert Hedlefs has<br />

provided the following excerpt from the Royal College of<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Surgeons guide to professional conduct:<br />

16. The cost of providing professional attention outside<br />

'routine hours' is high and the RCVS accepts that<br />

clients may be required to pay a premium for emergency<br />

veterinary attention out of hours.<br />

17. A veterinary surgeon or a lay member of staff accepting<br />

telephone calls must not refuse veterinary<br />

attention because the caller is unable to make immediate<br />

payment for the treatment. Arrangements<br />

for payment should be discussed at an early stage,<br />

but immediate first aid and pain relief should not be<br />

delayed while financial arrangements are agreed.<br />

18. The RCVS is aware that it may be appropriate to<br />

advise euthanasia to relieve suffering, if the owner<br />

is unable to afford the fees and is ineligible for<br />

charitable treatment.<br />

19. The RCVS has no power to set the fees that a<br />

practice charges.<br />

Dr Hedlefs comments: In the United Kingdom the legislation<br />

covers the opinion of the veterinary surgeon that<br />

euthanasia is the best option for the animal, the owners<br />

ability to pay and the veterinarian’s right to not lose<br />

funds. This is reinforced by clause 18. In Queensland<br />

however, veterinarians do not have this protection of<br />

their opinion. The owner has to agree to euthanase the<br />

animal or an RSPCA or other authorised inspector under<br />

the AC&PA has to approve the euthanasia on welfare<br />

grounds.<br />

If I was in practice I would be marketing hard to any cli-<br />

Batting for the Flying Fox<br />

Courtesy Louise Saunders (President) and Bat Conservation and Rescue Qld Inc<br />

Most readers will have received a<br />

series of Communiques from the Chief <strong>Veterinary</strong> Officer<br />

on the status of Hendra virus incidents in Queensland<br />

and other States. Those who do receive these may consider<br />

registering at www.deedi.qld.gov.au<br />

Queensland News will not go over the Hendra virus<br />

situation other than to note that it is unprecedented, with<br />

incidents in the double digits and occurring well south of<br />

Queensland, many horses and a dog euthanased, and a<br />

laudable observance of biosecurity precautions, especially<br />

at attendance of clinical cases and at the Royal<br />

National Agricultural exhibition, the Ekka. There has<br />

been very good support for the Roma Roundup held 19-<br />

21 August to show-case biosecurity. The veterinary and<br />

horse industry response has been effective and positive.<br />

However, certain politicians, seeking to advance their<br />

prospects in the Federal and State arenas, have reportedly<br />

chosen to play the fear card, apparently delighting in<br />

setting less critical members of the public the task of trying<br />

to bite their own tails.<br />

Queensland News is going in to bat for the flying fox and<br />

invited input from Bat Conservation and Rescue Qld Inc<br />

(BCRQ), www.bats.org.au<br />

<br />

14<br />

ents the value of insurance to pet owners and working<br />

on letting all ambulatory clients know that a credit card<br />

payment at time of visit is the only way the practice can<br />

afford to continue to provide the service.<br />

If I was a practitioner member of AVA I would be looking<br />

to my <strong>Association</strong> to be proactive in marketing to the<br />

public the costs of veterinary fees and the lack of suitable<br />

services provided by governments or charitable<br />

agencies to assist those who genuinely are caught in<br />

the hardship struggle. I would also consider the promotion<br />

to government of selected veterinary services such<br />

as those to assistance animals to be funded on a copayment<br />

system or bulk billed to Medicare as they are a<br />

genuine health care expense, to be a worthy cause for<br />

the profession.<br />

In a nutshell, the standard line has to be that veterinary<br />

professional services are not community funded, veterinarians<br />

get no tax relief or special financial rewards for<br />

any of the pro bono work they do and as such the duty<br />

of care as well as the fiscal responsibility is firmly with<br />

the owner of the animal and requester of the service.<br />

As a profession, we have to lobby hard to ensure the<br />

government includes the right for veterinarians to euthanase<br />

animals to allow protection when expensive and<br />

obviously, or even agreed, out of reach treatments are<br />

impracticable under the AC&PA. And we need to lobby<br />

even harder for the review of the <strong>Veterinary</strong> Surgeons<br />

Act to include all persons treating any animal, to ensure<br />

expensive treatments by veterinarians are not replaced<br />

by cheap lay technicians offering cheap quack alternative<br />

treatments to owners who are ill informed and dollar<br />

motivated.<br />

Readers who would like to comment further are welcome<br />

to contact the AVA Queensland office.<br />

BCRQ has a newsletter, Bat Chatter and is clearly an<br />

active and rather over-worked organization. Its President,<br />

Louise Saunders, has this to say in a plea for a<br />

balanced, naturalistic approach (light editing used for<br />

consistency with the Queensland News):<br />

Your email to the Department of Environment and Resource<br />

Management has been passed to myself and to<br />

Dr Peggy Eby. Peggy has been researching the foraging<br />

habitat of the Grey-headed flying fox across its range<br />

and has been doing important research on flying foxes<br />

for about 20 years. There are few flying fox researchers<br />

and most are time poor and struggling in the current bat<br />

bashing climate. All good bat defenders are suffering<br />

overload and burnout, there are just not enough of us to<br />

do the work and governments for their own reasons have<br />

let this get way out of hand. Scientists excited about new<br />

viral discoveries have brought the flying fox to a place so<br />

low in people’s minds with fear of disease, I think it will<br />

be a long hard road to return from here.<br />

I’m very pleased you would like to do an article for the<br />

AVA (Q) Queensland News.<br />

Bats are not the bad guys here and it seems they have<br />

owned Hendra virus for many hundreds, if not thousands,<br />

of years just as they have with <strong>Australian</strong> Bat


Lyssavirus (ABLV) a very rare virus in bats. ABLV would<br />

have to be the rarest fatal disease in the world having<br />

killed 2 people in history, one from a microbat, the other<br />

a Black flying-fox. This person did not receive treatment.<br />

Over 16 years since, with routine vaccinations for anyone<br />

bitten by a positive bat (less than .5% may have the<br />

virus) no humans should die. All flying-fox rescuers and<br />

carers are vaccinated and this has proven to be effective.<br />

Queensland Health initially dealt very badly with<br />

ABLV but since liaising more widely, their key people<br />

now spread a very good and balanced message. I have<br />

also been happy with their Hendra virus media releases.<br />

This is their latest fact sheet: Bats and Human Health.<br />

Also find: Living with Flying Foxes - Health and Conservation<br />

issues for people living near flying fox communities.<br />

The Department of Employment, Economic Development<br />

and Innovation’s (DEEDI) initial media about Hendra Virus<br />

was particularly worrying as their message was not<br />

balanced in regard to Hendra virus. Scientists were excited<br />

about this new virus and did not seem to understand<br />

the consequences of their discovery and how it<br />

would eventually be interpreted by the media and the<br />

public. I told a group of scientists back in 2009 that if<br />

they continued with their disease theories without balanced<br />

education about bats, bats would suffer through<br />

public fear and ignorance. Thankfully DEEDI now have<br />

a bat liaison group and have taken a One Health approach,<br />

explaining how people can protect their horses,<br />

their health and how to live with wildlife.<br />

Sadly our organisation is seeing more bats left to die as<br />

well as a few cruel acts being perpetrated on flying-foxes<br />

which we can only say is a result of the awful media<br />

frenzy to desensitize the public to bat welfare. With flying-foxes<br />

now pregnant and birthing season coinciding<br />

with people using drape netting on backyard fruit trees<br />

we fear our job in the coming months will be a tough one<br />

for our volunteers. Bats are without doubt ecologically<br />

and economically vital to <strong>Australian</strong> forests and our<br />

economy through pollination and seed dispersal and it is<br />

vital this message is given and protection laws enforced.<br />

We will ensure that authorities are given information<br />

about cruelty cases whenever appropriate.<br />

DERM have recently published good fact sheets — Living<br />

near flying-foxes... health and conservation issues<br />

answered and Living near flying-foxes... frequently<br />

asked questions. DERM have not issued much media in<br />

relation to bats and diseases that we have seen but<br />

these fact sheets are a great new resource. We hope<br />

they will be distributed to communities where needed<br />

and not just left on their website.<br />

We have tried to do media but struggle to get anything<br />

printed. When we do, the journalists slash the facts, and<br />

sensationalise and distort truths. The most important<br />

facts about flying-fox behaviour are being forgotten.<br />

The flying fox populations always wax and wane during<br />

winter in South East Queensland. It’s not surprising that<br />

after good rain there is great flowering of native forests:<br />

that is why there are so many flying-foxes here at present,<br />

but their populations are certainly not out of control.<br />

We witnessed a starvation event last year like no other<br />

that had ever been witnessed. The usual flowering plants<br />

never produced nectar so flying foxes made unheard of<br />

15<br />

journeys, travelling hundreds<br />

of kilometres over unsupported<br />

territories. Many thousands<br />

perished up and down<br />

the east coast of Australia.<br />

Bats were “jumping off” the<br />

end of Victoria trying to find<br />

new food territories. They<br />

ended up on oil rigs and<br />

washed up on the shores.<br />

Many never made it to their<br />

destinations. There have<br />

been about nine reported<br />

sightings of flying-foxes in<br />

Tasmania. There, they will<br />

not survive as there are not<br />

enough supporting nectar plants, unlike here in SEQ<br />

where there are more winter flowering plants than in any<br />

other region in Australia. It was a very tough time for<br />

carers. I thought there would be a lot more than just one<br />

Hendra incident due to the deaths and obvious abortions<br />

occurring then.<br />

So, bats are having a torrid time, not just in the media<br />

but in so many other ways. We’d love to hear from any<br />

veterinarians happy to give us a hand, bats are remarkable<br />

creatures. They astound me constantly with their<br />

intelligence and their healing powers are truly remarkable.<br />

They are great patients.<br />

Louise Saunders contributed an article to <strong>Australian</strong><br />

Mensa magazine, stressing the significant ecological importance<br />

of flying fox. The ancestor of flying foxes may<br />

be a primitive primate, while micro-bats originate from a<br />

shrew like ancestor. <strong>Australian</strong> hardwood forests, heathlands<br />

and rainforests rely upon long distance pollinators,<br />

unlike some flora in other parts of the world , which depend<br />

on wind pollination. A single flying fox can disperse<br />

up to 60,000 seeds per night. The brush-like anatomy of<br />

the flying fox tongue shows they are nectar specialists,<br />

though the specialization varies through Little Red, Greyheaded<br />

to Black, the latter being the most generalist<br />

feeders (including fruits and leaves). It is while feeding<br />

on the nectar that their facial fur becomes coated with<br />

pollen. Most <strong>Australian</strong> eucalypts release nectar mainly<br />

after midnight and their pollen receptors shut down at<br />

dawn. Thus they have evolved an ancient dependence<br />

on flying foxes to maintain and build themselves, not to<br />

mention allowing the survival of other iconic <strong>Australian</strong><br />

fauna who also depend upon the forests. (Ed. A sobering<br />

thought: unless eucalypts and other trees have pollinators,<br />

how will they have the genetic variability to adapt<br />

to and survive the recent occurrence and spread of Myrtle<br />

Rust?)<br />

For <strong>Australian</strong>s in particular, the economic importance of<br />

flying foxes is so significant, it may be incalculable. Bat<br />

Chatter (Fifteenth Edition) calls for some wisdom in the<br />

debate, pointing to the close association that carers have<br />

had with flying fox for many years, as they rescue flying<br />

fox caught in horticultural drape netting or on barbed wire<br />

fences, without cases of Hendra virus occurring in humans.<br />

(Ed. Wisdom? In an election? As Hugh Walpole wrote,<br />

if I remember correctly: It was a pearl beyond price.<br />

Therefore it had no value.)


Euthanasia of Dusty the Dog<br />

Letter from Dr Peter Reid as requested by Honorary Editor<br />

I hope the following short piece is relevant and suitable,<br />

and I haven't included or discussed the historical information<br />

on relapsed Hendra and Nipah human patients<br />

which is a very big subject in itself.<br />

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results reported to the<br />

Office International des Epizooties on Dusty were negative<br />

on 4/7/11 and 25/7/11. Serology results reported<br />

were the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)<br />

test and Virus Neutralisation Test (VNT) which were<br />

positive on 25/7/11. There was no report of an ELISA<br />

antibody test being performed on 4/7/11. Serology was<br />

reported to have been performed at the <strong>Australian</strong> Animal<br />

Health Laboratory (AAHL), Geelong and a subsequent<br />

serological test performed after 25/7/11 was reported<br />

to confirm a positive result before Dusty was<br />

euthanased by the owners’ private Veterinarian on<br />

31/7/<strong>2011</strong> although appearing well at the time.<br />

We've known since 1995 that dogs are capable of being<br />

infected experimentally, although they did not appear to<br />

show symptoms (Westbury et al 1995 AAHL experimental<br />

data), by mounting a serologically detectable immune<br />

response. In addition, a survey of dogs in Malaysia<br />

after the Nipah outbreak in 1999 confirmed seropositives<br />

and apparent deaths attributed to acute infection.<br />

Therefore in my view it wasn't unexpected to find a dog<br />

naturally infected or seropositive during an outbreak<br />

situation of HeV here in Australia.<br />

What is unknown is whether dogs are infectious at<br />

some stage after initial exposure. The exposure capable<br />

of causing a detectable infection could occur after<br />

the dog became infected by oro-nasal and/or mucous<br />

membrane contact with an infected horse shedding virus,<br />

or by the body fluids or excreta on the ground from<br />

an infected horse, or even presumably by contact with<br />

an infected bat shedding virus, e.g. mouthing and/or<br />

eating an infectious bat, or by licking bat excretions containing<br />

an infectious dose of virus.<br />

Whether dogs are likely to relapse, and, even if they do<br />

relapse, whether they are likely to be infectious, is also<br />

unknown based on our current level of knowledge and<br />

requires urgent scientific investigation and clarification.<br />

We also need to know the minimum infectious viral dose<br />

capable of causing infection, the pattern of antibody response<br />

and duration of immunity and it is hoped that<br />

these studies will be undertaken at AAHL following the<br />

announcement of State and Commonwealth funding for<br />

further research.<br />

If we look at what has occurred with the closely related<br />

Nipah virus (NiV) overseas, in one study published in<br />

2000 after a Nipah outbreak, Parashar et al concluded<br />

that direct, close contact with pigs was the primary<br />

source of human Nipah infection, but other sources,<br />

such as infected dogs and cats, could not be excluded.<br />

Mills et al in another Nipah study published in 2009<br />

found that the absence of NiV antibody in dogs less<br />

than 15 km from the epidemic area, and the low prevalence<br />

in populations nearer the epidemic, provided evidence<br />

that the virus was not spreading by dog-to-dog<br />

transmission and that the dog population was not acting<br />

as an amplifying reservoir for NiV in the absence of infected<br />

pigs. In addition, there were no reports of unusual<br />

numbers of dead or sick dogs outside the immediate<br />

disease-endemic area.<br />

However, Mills et al concluded that they could not exclude<br />

the possibility that dogs may have remained infectious<br />

for some period after infection or that other dogs or<br />

even humans may have become infected through contact<br />

with infected dogs. In their view, the results indicated<br />

that such infection was rare and was insufficient<br />

to maintain and spread NiV in dog populations in the<br />

absence of infected pigs.<br />

Dusty the dog was challenged with live virus and seroconverted.<br />

The difference between Dusty and vaccinated<br />

horses is that it looks from the experimental data<br />

so far that horses vaccinated with the sG (soluble G glycoprotein)<br />

which are subsequently challenged with live<br />

virus, will be protected and will not shed virus, that is not<br />

only do the horses not succumb to Hendra disease, but<br />

they are not infectious for humans. AAHL are also developing<br />

a test to differentiate naturally acquired immunity<br />

from vaccine induced immunity, i.e. the vaccine will<br />

have so called DIVA capability.<br />

_ References <br />

Westbury HA, Hooper PT, Selleck P W, Murray P K.<br />

(1995) Equine morbillivirus pneumonia: susceptibility of<br />

laboratory animals to the virus. Aust Vet J 72:278<br />

Parashar UD, Sunn LM, Ong F, Mounts AW, Arif MT,<br />

Ksiazek TG, et al. Case-control study of risk factors for<br />

human infection with a new zoonotic paramyxovirus,<br />

Nipah virus, during a 1998–1999 outbreak of severe<br />

encephalitis, Malaysia. J Infect Dis. 2000;181:1755–9<br />

Mills JN, Alim ANM, Bunning ML, Lee OB, Wagoner KD,<br />

Amman BR, et al. Nipah virus infection in dogs, Malaysia,<br />

1999. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2009<br />

Jun [date cited]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/EID/<br />

content/15/6/950<br />

Honorary Editor’s Note:<br />

We are indebted to Dr Reid for this information. Peter is<br />

the Divisional representative on the Horse Industry Biosecurity<br />

and Market Access Liaison Group (acronym<br />

“Hamburger”).<br />

Celebrating 250 years of the veterinary profession — Vet<strong>2011</strong><br />

16


Recommended Specimen Submission Guidelines For Hendra Virus Testing<br />

Equine Veterinarians Australia and <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Veterinary</strong><br />

<strong>Association</strong> (Queensland Division) have prepared the<br />

following guidelines for veterinarians wishing to submit<br />

specimens for Hendra virus testing to Queensland laboratories.<br />

Veterinarians are strongly advised to phone<br />

ahead to advise the laboratory of the impending submission<br />

so appropriate arrangements to facilitate testing<br />

can be made.<br />

During business hours contact:-<br />

Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory (Coopers Plains):<br />

(07) 3276 6062<br />

Tropical & Aquatic Health Laboratory (Oonoonba):<br />

(07) 4760 1524<br />

Animal Disease Surveillance Laboratory<br />

(Toowoomba): (07) 4688 1364<br />

After-hours testing is available by contacting the<br />

Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline:<br />

Veterinarians will be put in contact with a Biosecurity<br />

Queensland <strong>Veterinary</strong> Officer to discuss the case and<br />

make the appropriate arrangements.<br />

After hours contact:<br />

Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline 1800 675<br />

888<br />

IMPORTANT: Announce yourself as a veterinarian,<br />

and you will be transferred to a Biosecurity Queensland<br />

veterinarian.<br />

Biosecurity Queensland advises that it is not appropriate<br />

for specimens to be left at the Department of Employment<br />

Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI)<br />

offices. In the event of this occurring please be advised<br />

that these specimens will not be accepted. Submissions<br />

need to be made directly to any of the three Biosecurity<br />

Queensland veterinary laboratories located at:<br />

Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory (BSL)<br />

Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Specimen Receipt<br />

(Loading Dock 12), 39 Kessels Road, Coopers<br />

Plains, Qld 4108<br />

Tropical & Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory<br />

(TAAHL)<br />

180-202 River Boulevard, Oonoonba, Qld 4811<br />

Animal Disease Surveillance Laboratory (ADSL)<br />

203 Tor Street, Toowoomba, Qld 4350<br />

Submissions received at TAAHL or ADSL will be transported<br />

to BSL where Hendra virus testing is conducted.<br />

To ensure the most efficient test turn-around times,<br />

specimens should be submitted directly to BSL. Submissions<br />

for Hendra virus disease investigation are exempt<br />

from a service fee; however, packaging costs and<br />

courier arrangements need to be met by the submitter.<br />

Hendra virus health testing will incur a service fee in line<br />

with the laboratory submission policy. Biosecurity<br />

Queensland does not supply specimen containers or<br />

consumables. Submitters are reminded to please complete<br />

the sample/specimen submission forms found at<br />

the bottom of the following BQ website page, as completely<br />

as possible: http://<br />

www.dpi.qld.gov.au/4790_6661.htm<br />

Important reminders regarding Packaging and<br />

Transport<br />

It is the sender’s responsibility to ensure specimens are<br />

appropriately packaged and transported to the laboratory<br />

for analysis. It is the responsibility of the submitter<br />

to ensure that specimens are packed to comply with<br />

transport regulations and that they don’t deteriorate or<br />

break or leak during transit.<br />

The inclusion of sharps in submissions, or specimens<br />

provided in a grossly contaminated state, represent<br />

a workplace health and safety risk and are<br />

not acceptable.<br />

Submitters are also reminded that if they enlist horse or<br />

property owners, to deliver specimens to a laboratory<br />

that they should be comfortable with that driver’s emotional<br />

state given the stressful situation that a suspected<br />

Hendra virus case can cause.<br />

General Requirements, as précised from International<br />

Air Transport <strong>Association</strong> (IATA) Packaging<br />

Instructions 650<br />

Packaging must be constructed and closed so as to prevent<br />

any loss of contents that might be caused under<br />

normal conditions of transport. The packaging must<br />

consist of three components:<br />

a. a primary receptacle: Leak-proof. Absorbent material<br />

such as cotton wool must be placed between the<br />

primary receptacle and the secondary packaging,<br />

with a cold pack to maintain sample integrity.<br />

b. a secondary packaging: Also leak-proof. <strong>Veterinary</strong><br />

samples should be sent chilled, not frozen, and<br />

secondary packaging must be secured in outer packaging<br />

with suitable cushioning material between the<br />

secondary pack and the outer. A small foam esky is<br />

ideal.<br />

c. a rigid outer packaging. The outer packaging must<br />

not contain more than 4 litres. This quantity excludes<br />

ice, dry ice or liquid nitrogen when used to keep<br />

specimens cold.<br />

The current edition of The Dangerous Goods Regulations<br />

published annually by IATA should be consulted if<br />

you require extra advice on specimen packaging requirements.<br />

As requirements for transport can change,<br />

submitters should consult with their transport agent to<br />

obtain current requirements. Find more information regarding<br />

packaging specimens at http://www.iata.org<br />

Biosecurity Queensland routinely packages all specimens<br />

to comply with either IATA Packaging Instructions<br />

650 or 620 once a risk assessment has been made.<br />

17


Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy – Update March <strong>2011</strong><br />

Dr Reg Butler Principal <strong>Veterinary</strong> Officer, Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry<br />

Classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (C‐type<br />

BSE) is a zoonotic, non-contagious transmissible<br />

spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) that primarily affects<br />

bovine animals. The disease was spread from its origin<br />

in the United Kingdom to some other countries through<br />

the global trade in live cattle and livestock feeds. Cases<br />

of C‐type BSE were subsequently identified in indigenous<br />

cattle in mainland Europe, Japan, Canada and<br />

Israel. Primary variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease<br />

(vCJD) in people is orally acquired through foods containing<br />

specified risk materials from C‐type BSEinfected<br />

cattle. This same route led to C‐type BSE<br />

causing naturally occurring cases of TSE in domestic<br />

cats, some zoo animals, two goats and non-human primates.<br />

A short review is provided of the measures that<br />

were established in international standards and national<br />

legislation to minimise the risk of new cases in susceptible<br />

species. Epidemiological evidence is examined<br />

which points to the global eradication of C‐type BSE<br />

being within sight, provided measures are kept in place<br />

which prevent recycling of C‐type BSE in ruminant<br />

feeds. Global eradication of this disease may mean that<br />

current risk reduction measures can be rationalised in<br />

the future and possible options are explored in the areas<br />

of feed controls, food safety measures and surveillance.<br />

Three strains of BSE have been identified to date.<br />

Widespread surveillance for C‐type BSE in a number of<br />

countries has identified two additional and very rare<br />

strains, called low-type (L‐type) BSE and high-type<br />

(H‐type) BSE because of differences in the abnormal<br />

prion protein compared to C‐type BSE. L‐type BSE and<br />

H‐type BSE are also collectively called ‘atypical BSE’.<br />

Evidence is examined which supports the view that the<br />

two atypical strains cause diseases that are epidemiologically<br />

unrelated to C‐type BSE. This evidence is<br />

sourced from published challenge, diagnostic, and epidemiological<br />

studies. Parenteral challenge studies have<br />

shown that both atypical strains can infect cattle and<br />

that one may pose a zoonotic risk. However, there are<br />

some important unknown features of these strains.<br />

Identification and detailed study of additional naturally<br />

occurring cases would help confirm the hypothesis that<br />

they are sporadic or genetic diseases in aged cattle and<br />

are not contagious. Experiments underway overseas<br />

may help to clarify if any tissues outside of the central<br />

nervous system in infected cattle harbour significant<br />

levels of infectivity and whether these strains can be<br />

orally transmitted to cause disease in cattle, other livestock<br />

or humans.<br />

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) sets<br />

recommended risk reduction measures for BSE in the<br />

Terrestrial Animal Health Code, and countries can apply<br />

to the OIE to have the BSE-risk status of their cattle<br />

herds assessed. The BSE-risk status of the <strong>Australian</strong><br />

cattle herd has been protected through a ban on imports<br />

of meat and bone meal (except from New Zealand)<br />

since the 1960s, and more recently by controls on imports<br />

of live cattle, stockfeeds, stockfeed ingredients<br />

and veterinary therapeutics, restrictions on ruminant<br />

feeding and surveillance.<br />

Australia’s food safety policy for bovine spongiform encephalopathy<br />

(BSE) changed on 1 March 2010, supported<br />

by an independent review of BSE science. Countries<br />

that have reported one or more cases of BSE in<br />

indigenous cattle can apply to Food Standards Australia<br />

New Zealand for a food safety risk assessment against<br />

set criteria that are based on those established by the<br />

OIE. Separately, on 8 April 2010 three regulated import<br />

risk analyses (IRAs) of animal health issues related to<br />

beef and beef products were commenced by Biosecurity<br />

Australia for Canada, Japan and the United States.<br />

Reprinted from the <strong>2011</strong> AVA Queensland Division Annual<br />

Conference Proceedings.<br />

18


Communicating With Animals<br />

Dr Isobel Johnstone BVSc BSc PhD, johnstonei@optusnet.com.au www.animaltelepathy.com.au<br />

Generally, modern society has embraced the human-animal bond with love and respect. Many keepers regard their<br />

companion animals as part of the family and want the very best veterinary care for them, equivalent to the care they<br />

would seek for themselves.<br />

There is a means by which keepers can become closer to their animals and understand them better. This is the area<br />

of telepathic communication with animals. Now that I have retired from veterinary practice I have had the time to pursue<br />

this particular interest. Communicating with animals is a movement that, in the past 15years or so, has been<br />

quietly gaining momentum. People are discovering their closeness to and ability to reach the consciousness of animals.<br />

How did I get started in this area? I have always had a close rapport with animals, from a young child and throughout<br />

my veterinary career. As a child, I avidly read the Dr Dolittle books and longed to be able to talk with the animals<br />

as he did. I have always talked to the animals in my professional life; I found this helped immensely in establishing<br />

rapport with the animals with whom I was dealing. However, I always wished to be able to communicate with animals<br />

and I have read many books on the subject.<br />

I attended a course by Trisha McCagh, an animal communicator, held in Brisbane. This opened up my ability to talk<br />

with animals telepathically. There is nothing particularly remarkable about this, as telepathic communication is the<br />

universal language of the animal kingdom. Although telepathic communication has yet to be explained by modern<br />

science, all animals, both human and nonhuman, have the potential to communicate by this means.<br />

Telepathy is commonly defined as “communication from one mind to another at a distance other than through known<br />

senses”. Telepathy is the usual means of communication between animals, including humans. However, as we use<br />

the spoken word for most of our communication this inhibits our ability to communicate directly through thought. Our<br />

busy lives often create cluttered minds and we are not as open to thought transference, but when we become mindful<br />

of human and animal “others”, we can all become much more receptive telepathically. Telepathic communication<br />

can be in the form of seeing mind pictures, hearing words mentally, knowing and feelings. The communication is<br />

silent as it is done mind-to-mind.<br />

How does telepathic communication with animals work for me? I am able to tune into the animal’s thoughts and<br />

have a two-way mind conversation with the animal, writing down the conversation as it unfolds. Sometimes I see<br />

mental pictures, which then help to clarify what the animal is trying to get across. I discuss the conversation with the<br />

keeper, who can then ask further questions of the animal if they wish. The notes are later typed up and emailed to<br />

the keeper so that they have a copy for future reference.<br />

Mental pictures are actually a very common form of communication between animals and humans, often without the<br />

humans realizing it. For example, a friend was having trouble with her dog, in that when she called it to come back to<br />

her it always ran away. I asked if she was mentally picturing the dog running away when she called it and she said<br />

yes, so I suggested that she picture the dog running to her when she called it. This worked, and now the dog runs<br />

back to her when she calls it. It is very important to remember that animals can respond to your mental pictures.<br />

Telepathic communication assumes that animals are sentient beings with their own purposes, desires, choices, and<br />

manner of looking at the world. Sentience is the ability to feel, or perceive, or be conscious, or have subjective experiences.<br />

When Noel Fitzpatrick, veterinary surgeon and pioneer of bionic development for animals, was interviewed by Margaret<br />

Throsby on her show Mornings with Margaret Throsby, ABC Radio, he said “I have seen animals as sentient, that<br />

is they all have feelings needs and wants. The only way forward for mankind in my view is to understand that we<br />

have a responsibility for the animals on the planet and if we look after them we help ourselves.”<br />

Certainly many animals have desires and make choices. But can they communicate those desires and choices?<br />

Surely, a dog can communicate that it wants to go outside, by standing at the door and scratching at it or barking.<br />

There is a great leap, however, from saying that animals can communicate their needs in the familiar way that they<br />

do, to saying that they can do so through telepathic words and pictures (just as telepathy among humans is not an<br />

everyday event for most people).<br />

Over recent years discoveries have been made about the minds and communicative abilities of animals. A most notable<br />

example is Koko, a gorilla who was taught American Sign Language. Koko (born July 4, 1971, at San Francisco<br />

Zoo) is a Western Lowland Gorilla who, according to Francine (Penny) Patterson, her long-term trainer, is able<br />

to understand more than 1,000 signs and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English. As with other<br />

language experiments with apes, the degree to which Koko mastered these signs has been the subject of controversy,<br />

as has been the degree to which such mastery demonstrates language abilities.<br />

Another example is Alex, the famous African Grey Parrot. Alex (1976 to <strong>September</strong> 6, 2007) was the subject of a<br />

thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Dr Irene Pepperberg, begun at the University of Arizona and later continued<br />

at Harvard and Brandeis Universities. The name Alex is an acronym for Avian Language EXperiment, but Dr<br />

Pepperberg later cited the name as meaning Avian Learning EXperiment to evoke further acceptance in her research<br />

19


field, a then touchy topic (explained in her book, Alex & Me). Alex had a vocabulary of about 150 words, but was exceptional<br />

in that he appeared to have understanding of what he said. He could identify 50 different objects and recognize<br />

quantities up to six. He could distinguish seven colours and five shapes, and understand the concepts of<br />

“bigger”, “smaller”, “same”, and “different”. In her book Dr Pepperberg says, “Scientifically speaking, the single greatest<br />

lesson Alex taught me, taught all of us, is that animal minds are a great deal more like human minds than the vast<br />

majority of behavioural scientists believed or, more importantly, were even prepared to concede might be remotely<br />

possible.”<br />

Over the years there have been pivotal books that have shaped the thinking on animal communication and telepathy.<br />

The classic book on animal telepathy was written by naturalist William Long in 1919 (How Animals Talk) and has now<br />

been reprinted.<br />

It was this book that inspired the research of biologist and academic Rupert Sheldrake. In the foreword of the reprint<br />

he says, “When I first read this book, it not only inspired me, but it changed me. It made me realise that unexplained<br />

abilities like telepathy and the sense of being stared at are widespread in the animal kingdom. When they occur in<br />

people, they are often called ‘paranormal’, literally meaning beyond the normal, or they are treated as weird or<br />

spooky, or simply dismissed as illusions. Reading this book convinced me that they are normal, not paranormal, and<br />

are part of our biological nature”.<br />

In 1999 he published his early research in his book Dogs that Know when their Owners are Coming Home and Other<br />

Unexplained Powers of Animals. How does a dog know when its keeper is returning home at an unexpected time?<br />

After five years of extensive research involving thousands of people who keep and work with animals, Rupert Sheldrake<br />

conclusively proved what many pet keepers already know: there is a strong connection between humans and<br />

animals that lies beyond present-day scientific understanding. His book is filled with the stories and analysis of the<br />

research.<br />

In 1954, J. Allen Boone in Kinship with All Life wrote of his experience with Strongheart, the famous dog who was a<br />

motion picture star, and how this dog and other animals taught him communication with animals.<br />

In 1982 pioneer animal communicator, Penelope Smith, first published her book Animal Talk: Interspecies Telepathic<br />

Communication which brought telepathic communication to the attention of a wider audience. Her animal communication<br />

classes were at the forefront of the animal communication movement.<br />

There are now many animal communicators all over the world and many have published books on their experiences.<br />

A Google search will discover many websites of animal communicators.<br />

Why communicate with animals?<br />

Telepathic communication with an animal can be very helpful because:<br />

• The keeper and the animal can forge a deeper understanding and appreciation of each other<br />

• It can reveal an animal’s feelings, wants and needs<br />

• When an animal is old or in poor health, its wishes can be conveyed to the keeper<br />

• It can forewarn an animal of moves or changes before they happen and allay their fears<br />

• It helps negotiating with feuding animals<br />

• It enhances an animal’s training<br />

• Behaviour problems can be discussed.<br />

What animals do makes perfect sense to them, from their viewpoint. By communicating with the animal we can learn<br />

its own personal and unique viewpoint, we can understand what they need and why they behave the way they do.<br />

And we can enlist their participation in resolving any issues, problem behaviour, or health problems. Who better to<br />

ask than the animal itself, when it is having a problem?<br />

Animal communication helps you to understand what the animal is thinking and feeling.<br />

Conversations<br />

In my conversations with animals I have found them to be very forthcoming with information and so excited that they<br />

now have a voice to tell their keeper all sorts of information. I ask the keeper to have a list of questions that they wish<br />

to ask the animal. I also ask the animal if it has anything it wishes to tell the keeper.<br />

Here are some examples from my conversations with animals:<br />

It is good for them to know that we think and that we appreciate them (a Labrador dog).<br />

You are welcome to talk to me, it is my opportunity to tell these people how much I appreciate their taking care of me.<br />

Thank them for taking me in, I am really grateful (a Terrier dog).<br />

It gives me a chance to discuss what is troubling me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain myself (a<br />

20


Burmese cat).<br />

When I talk with an animal, I ask them to tell me something that they and the keeper would know, but that I would not<br />

know. This is important, as it is then something I can relay to the keeper so they know that I really have been talking<br />

with their animal and not making it up. For example, I asked a dog what treats it liked. When I told its keeper that<br />

the dog had answered: “I like liquorice, you know those nice lollies. If she wants me to do my best, then liquorice will<br />

do it to give me as a reward”. I found this a most confusing answer as I knew the keeper did not give the dog lollies.<br />

When I told the keeper, she laughed and brought out the dog’s Number One treat (he has many different treats as he<br />

does a lot of agility training and competition) and the dark dried lamb chunks did look just like liquorice!<br />

I am very grateful that I have the ability to communicate with animals, as then I can help other people to realise that<br />

they can and need to tune in to their animals. Talking telepathically with animals is something that we all can do. It<br />

just needs the time and inclination, practice and the right frame of mind. Please contact me if you require further information.<br />

It is good to be sceptical. While sceptics dismiss anything that does not comply with their concepts, once convincing<br />

proof of an incident is obtained, the true sceptic will accept it as genuine. Therefore, endeavour to have a mind that<br />

will look beyond what is currently known or accepted, and be open to new ideas.<br />

References <br />

Boone J. Allen, 1976. Kinship with All Life. Harper Collins, Australia<br />

Long William J., 2005 (1919). How Animals Talk and Other Pleasant Studies of Birds and Beasts. Bear & Co, Vermont<br />

Pepperberg I.M., 2008. Alex & Me. Scribe, Melbourne<br />

Sheldrake R., 2000. Dogs that Know when Their Owners are Coming Home and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals.<br />

Arrow Books, London<br />

Smith P., 2008. Animal Talk, Interspecies Telepathic Communication. Beyond Words Publishing, Oregon<br />

Other reading suggestions<br />

Bekoff, Marc, 2007. The Emotional Lives of Animals. New World Library, California.<br />

A leading scientist explores animal joy, sorrow, and<br />

empathy and why they matter.<br />

Dosa, David, 2010. Making the Rounds with Oscar,<br />

Headline, London. The inspirational story of a doctor,<br />

his patients and a very special cat.<br />

Lingenfelter, Mike & Frei, David, 2002. The Angel by<br />

My Side. Hay House. The true story of a dog who<br />

saved a man, and a man who saved a dog. This book<br />

shares the power of the human-animal bond with the<br />

world.<br />

Myers, Arthur, 1997. Communicating with Animals:<br />

The Spiritual Connection Between People and Animals.<br />

Contemporary Books, Illinois. An investigative<br />

reporter interviews many communicators and explores<br />

the phenomenon of human-animal communication.<br />

Paxton, David, <strong>2011</strong>. Why It’s OK to Talk to Your Dog:<br />

Co-evolution of People and Dogs.<br />

www.compositeconversationalist.com A profound reappraisal<br />

of human and dog evolution.<br />

Ranquet, Joan, 2007. Communication with All Life:<br />

How to Understand and Talk to Animals. Hay House,<br />

UK<br />

Schoen, Allen M., 2002. How the Remarkable Bond<br />

between Humans and Animals Can Change the Way<br />

We Live. Broadway Books. A veterinarian’s story of<br />

his life and the human-animal bond.<br />

Williams, Marta, 2003. Learning Their language: Intuitive<br />

Communication with Animals and nature. New<br />

World Library, California.<br />

A step-by-step ‘how to’ guide on animal communication.<br />

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21


AVA PetPEP is still proving to be a<br />

popular educational tool used in schools across Queensland with currently over 330 school visits already booked for<br />

<strong>2011</strong>. With wonderful support from our volunteer Vet practices it has been possible to continue promoting the program<br />

to schools to encourage the education of AVA PetPEP key messages. Trips have taken place in North QLD and<br />

Longreach to Emerald with more being planned for the AVA PetPEP Education Officer Jana Pini. These visits allow for<br />

face‐to‐face meetings and for practice staff to discuss the benefits of the program to the local communities.<br />

They also assist with incorporating relevant local animal issues into AVA PetPEP school visits.<br />

The <strong>2011</strong> Rural Discovery Day held at the RNA Show Grounds was a successful event for students<br />

from various schools around Queensland to learn about ‘all things rural’. The day allowed<br />

students to participate in a range of presentations that focused<br />

on the different areas of farming and agriculture. The<br />

Rural Discovery Day provided an opportunity for some of our<br />

Vets and Vet nurses to showcase the <strong>Veterinary</strong> profession<br />

by talking to over 365 students throughout the day about the<br />

importance of caring for all animals and the roles that Vets<br />

and Vet Nurses have in both rural and urban environments.<br />

It was a fantastic day with many of the children gaining important<br />

knowledge from the presentations.<br />

Buderim Mountain State School recently hosted the launch of AVA PetPEP in the local Sunshine Coast Regional<br />

Council area helping to celebrate the link between education and animal care. Along with the existing support of<br />

many veterinarians and veterinary nurses, AVA PetPEP now has the support from the Sunshine Coast Regional<br />

Council to work together with a variety of animal care professionals to educate children about the importance of<br />

pet care through the key messages focusing on responsible pet ownership.<br />

With positive feedback from both schools and AVA PetPEP supporters about school visits, we would encourage<br />

more vet practices to hop on board and make a difference in their local community.<br />

By sharing your knowledge, skills and passion for animal health you can help school children understand and<br />

value the responsibilities needed to be a good pet owner or maybe one day work in the animal profession.<br />

If you would like to get involved please call the AVA PetPEP Office on 07 3423 1788<br />

or email: petpepqld@ava.com.au<br />

22


Marine Pollutants: Immuno‐suppressants<br />

Letter from Dr Matt Landos, Director, Future Fisheries <strong>Veterinary</strong> Service P/L<br />

After the floods in Queensland in January <strong>2011</strong>, a spike<br />

in losses of turtles, dugongs and gropers has been reported.<br />

The losses have been attributed officially to the<br />

flood of freshwater killing vegetation upon which these<br />

animals feed. However, I am concerned that the losses<br />

may also be due to pollutants in the flood waters causing<br />

immuno-suppression and thus wildlife disease.<br />

My concern is shared internationally: http://<br />

www.rense.com/general38/tur.htm.<br />

The sediment dwelling marine worm (polychaete) populations<br />

in Moreton Bay have crashed post flood. Oysters<br />

have almost been eradicated from many polluted<br />

rivers, pipis have disappeared off beaches in the Northern<br />

Rivers district.<br />

In the search for definitive proof, are we losing sight of<br />

our capacity to interpret likely cause, permitting riskbased<br />

remedial actions to be implemented? Is there a<br />

chance we can engage the wider veterinary community<br />

in addressing the impact of pollutants on animal health?<br />

At the CSIRO conference “What’s in Our Water”, held in<br />

Canberra in November 2010, three presentations, each<br />

from a different State, described endocrine disruption<br />

occurring in aquatic animals in the wild.<br />

I consider this issue needs to move up the national veterinary<br />

agenda urgently. Some marine scientists are<br />

recognising immuno-suppression issues for Barrier Reef<br />

marine life, but veterinarians generally are silent on the<br />

issue. I congratulate Ben Diggles and Jon Brodie for<br />

speaking up in aquatic animal health forums, highlighting<br />

that the marine park proposals do not protect marine<br />

ecosystems from the more insidious threat of pollution<br />

by immuno-suppressants.<br />

I thank Queensland News for mentioning the issue on<br />

two occasions.<br />

As a profession we are quietly corralling ourselves into<br />

irrelevance, eroding our professional position. Other<br />

scientific disciplines are addressing animal health issues.<br />

With ever more veterinary graduates, it seems<br />

timely that the profession expand its vision to embrace<br />

this issue vigorously. I’ll be interested to hear any<br />

thoughts from readers.<br />

He Who Fails To Plan Is Planning To Fail<br />

Winston Churchill<br />

While the best laid plans may often<br />

go awry, especially in an uncertain<br />

economic climate, it still<br />

stands to reason that most successful<br />

people have clear goals in<br />

mind and a plan about how they<br />

will achieve them.<br />

A new partnership between Guild Financial Services and the<br />

AVA means there’s never been a better time for AVA members<br />

to make a plan to secure their financial future.<br />

Guild Financial Services is offering an exclusive discount to<br />

members of $1000 off the cost of comprehensive written<br />

financial advice.<br />

Guild’s financial advisers can provide advice on:<br />

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To receive your $1000 discount voucher and take advantage<br />

of this offer contact AVA national office on 02 9431 5000.<br />

Guild Financial Services has a strong history of providing<br />

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For more information visit www.guildfinancial.com.au/avaoffer<br />

23


Vale...Grant Frazer<br />

It is with the deepest regret and sadness that we inform<br />

colleagues of the untimely passing of Professor Grant<br />

S. Frazer in late July <strong>2011</strong>.<br />

Professor Grant Frazer was a 1980 UQ graduate. He<br />

worked as a veterinarian in private practice for 7 years<br />

in Australia and for 23 years in North American referral<br />

hospitals. As a resident in Theriogenology at The Ohio<br />

State University, Grant was awarded a Masters degree<br />

in reproductive physiology and in 1987 gained his specialist<br />

diploma from the American College of Theriogenologists.<br />

As a Board certified specialist in Theriogenology<br />

(Animal Reproduction), Grant was a Lecturer<br />

at New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania from<br />

1986-1988. He returned to Australia in 1988 to work in<br />

private practice at Tatura for a year then in 1989 was<br />

resident veterinarian at the Haddon Rig Merino Stud in<br />

NSW. In 1991, Grant returned to Columbus, Ohio, as a<br />

very proud Faculty member in Theriogenology and Assistant<br />

Professor at The Ohio State University College<br />

of <strong>Veterinary</strong> Medicine. Grant worked tirelessly on behalf<br />

of the College and was particularly distinguished<br />

as a teacher and clinician which enabled him to gain<br />

tenure in 1997 and the rank of Associate Professor in<br />

Large Animal Theriogenology. Grant’s teaching was<br />

recognized by major awards including the prestigious<br />

Norden Distinguished Teacher Award in 1994. His clinical<br />

expertise and strong interest in obstetrics was well<br />

recognized and resulted in speaking engagements<br />

throughout the USA and Europe. Grant was a very active<br />

and admired leader in the American College of<br />

Theriogenologists and served as Treasurer from 1999-<br />

2002.<br />

In 2000 Grant moved across into the Department of<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Preventive Medicine as an Extension Veterinarian<br />

in Reproduction. During this period Grant studied<br />

for an MBA through the Fisher College of Business,<br />

OSU and was awarded his MBA in 2003. Thus began a<br />

change in career direction towards business management<br />

and from December 2006-August 2009, Grant<br />

served as Director of the <strong>Veterinary</strong> Teaching Hospital<br />

at Ohio State University and member of the College of<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Medicine Dean’s Cabinet. Grant was enormously<br />

proud of his achievements at OSU. As Director,<br />

he established a clinic management structure and policies<br />

that would guide the Teaching Hospital towards<br />

financial stability. In his earlier career as a teacher, he<br />

won praise for his dedication and rapport with students.<br />

Grant’s clinical and research focus was on obstetrics<br />

and the peri-parturient period and he chaired scientific<br />

conference symposia, was on review panels for several<br />

journals and was always a strong advocate for science<br />

based therapies in reproductive practice.<br />

In October 2009 Grant joined UQ, as Director of Clinical<br />

and Diagnostic Services with a strong reputation in veterinary<br />

hospital administration. Grant’s skills and enthusiasm<br />

lead UQ’s veterinary clinical services into a new<br />

phase as the School relocated to the Gatton Campus in<br />

2010. Over the past 18 months with UQ, Grant has been<br />

a dedicated leader and mentor for staff in the Clinical<br />

and Diagnostic Service groups. Grant focused on enabling<br />

these groups to provide the best possible care for<br />

the animals entrusted to UQ by their owners. Grant<br />

guided the clinical groups through the transition to the<br />

Gatton Campus and worked tirelessly to ensure the new<br />

<strong>Veterinary</strong> Medical Centre would achieve the level of<br />

construction excellence that would match the level of<br />

services VMC would offer to clients and their animals.<br />

The quality of finish of the small animal and equine hospitals<br />

is to a large part, due to Grant’s attention to detail,<br />

desire for excellence and tireless communications with<br />

project managers, builders and architects. The finished<br />

product of the magnificent new <strong>Veterinary</strong> Medical Centre<br />

at the Gatton Campus contains many of Grant’s<br />

ideas and initiatives which were all aimed creating the<br />

best possible work environment for his staff, and optimized<br />

facilities for animals under VMC care.<br />

Grant is survived by his wife, Lou, and their family,<br />

Belinda, Sean, Jocelyn, son-in-law Jonathan, and<br />

grandson Alec.<br />

sustainability<br />

AVA Annual Conference<br />

20-25 May 2012<br />

Canberra<br />

<strong>Australian</strong> Capital Territory<br />

24


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Research and Education<br />

sGovernment and Indu<br />

try<br />

Be part of the<br />

profession<br />

Branches<br />

Special Interest Groups<br />

Members<br />

Divisions<br />

AVA Membership<br />

A “Graduate Concession” on membership is<br />

available to newly graduated veterinarians.<br />

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)<br />

AAV (Alpaca)<br />

AVCB (Conservation<br />

Biologists)<br />

AAVMA (Avian)<br />

ACV (Cattle)<br />

AGVA (Greyhound)<br />

AHV (Holistic)<br />

APV (Pig)<br />

ARV (Reproduction)<br />

ASAVA (Small Animals)<br />

ASV (Sheep)<br />

Contact<br />

AVA (Queensland Division)<br />

AVA (National)<br />

AVAG (Acupuncture)<br />

AVAWE (Animal Welfare & Ethics)<br />

AVBIG (Animal Behaviourists)<br />

AVDS (Dental)<br />

AVI (Industry)<br />

AVHS (History)<br />

AVPA (Poultry)<br />

AVPH (Public Health)<br />

AVPMA (Practice Management)<br />

EVA (Equine)<br />

UEP (Unusual & Exotic Pets)<br />

All AVA Branches are FREE<br />

This is the best way to network with the veterinarians<br />

around your geographical area; you are free to choose<br />

as many branches as you want. The following are<br />

AVA branches available in Queensland:<br />

Brisbane <strong>Veterinary</strong> Practitioners Branch<br />

Central Queensland Branch<br />

Darling Downs & South West Branch<br />

North Branch<br />

South East Queensland Branch<br />

Sunshine Coast Branch<br />

• Access to AVA helplines and advice services<br />

-HR Advisory Service<br />

- Telephone Counselling Service<br />

- Accounting, Finance and Super Helpline<br />

- Commercial Legal Helpline<br />

• New Graduate Guide<br />

• New Graduate Friendly Practice (NGFP)<br />

Accreditation Scheme<br />

• <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Veterinary</strong> Journal (Yearly Subscription)<br />

• Conference and other AVA events (where applicable)<br />

• Access to all areas of the AVA website<br />

•<br />

veterinary titles through the AVA bookshop.<br />

The <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Veterinary</strong> <strong>Association</strong> I www.ava.com.au I ABN 63 008 522 852

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