Welcome to AMRRIC
AMRRIC is an independent group of Veterinarians, academics, health professionals and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We work to improve the health and wellbeing of companion animals and improve the overall health and wellbeing of remote Indigenous communities.
You can support AMRRIC's work by donating now.
AMRRIC DVD learning package available now
AMRRIC’s Manual ‘Dog Health Programs in Indigenous Communities’ plus ‘Caring for Dogs, Community & Country’ DVD all on one DVD @ only $45 including postage. These resources are ideal for Environmental Health Workers and Animal Management Workers. Get your copy by using this AMRRIC DVD learning package order form (PDF, 548kb).
Be a Friend to Your Dog
The Be a Friend to Your Dog project was rolled out at Mamaruni School Minjalang on 26th April. It was well received by the students who were engaged and interested. Unlike urban areas all children in remote schools come into contact with dogs – even if they don’t own one. The image below is the youngest members of the student body being asked to try and recognise dogs’ feelings and align them with their own feelings. This is done by a series of magnetised pictures of dogs and corresponding human facial expressions. These are fun, visual and good for children with English as a second/third language. It was tested out on all the age groups and surprisingly the youngest children were quicker matching up the human facial expressions with the dogs’ body language than the older children. The Be a Friend to Your Dog original specification was to target years 3 -5 but has been widened to all primary school ages as it seems a shame not to have something for all students in the school in the pack, especially when we have such wonderful resources developed by our own education officer Sophie Constable available. Next schools on the list are Shepherdson College at Galiwin’ku with Emma Kennedy, Wooliana School Daly River, Warruwi School South Goulburn, and also hopefully some of the schools around Utopia at the end of June.
Students at Mamaruni School Minjalang with Eileen Fletcher
Member of the month - Alana Tagliabue
Alana Tagliabue is in her fourth year in Veterinary Science at Murdoch University in Perth. Alana has recently received a Clyde McGill & Colleen Rigby Scholarship which will fund her volunteering on an AMRRIC program.
Originally from country Victoria, Alana is a vet student with a keen in interest in wildlife veterinary practice and population control. She is wife to Matt, a medical doctor (intern year) and mum to a 3 year old Henry.
Her professional interests are in veterinary conservation and wildlife medicine but she is also focused on domestic pets and humanitarian work. The ultimate aim in her career would be to intersperse general practice vetting; focusing on population control in certain population groups and inter-connect that with biodiversity conservation. Alana’s husband is also very interested in Indigenous health issues.
Alana has been accepted to World Vets outreach program in Tanzania with donkeys. She really enjoys that ‘humanitarian’ work. She has recently returned from an Indian surgical Animal Birth Control -Anti Rabies course. It was a wonderful eye-opening experience, and she would like to continue this work in Australia. Alana and her doctor husband Matthew plan to be involved in programs that bring improvements in community health and animal welfare.
Alana has also volunteered with the RSPCA. Prior to commencing veterinary studies, she completed a BSc at La Trobe University, majoring in zoology and conservation ecology. Alana gained considerable field experience during this time, most notably working with renowned conservation ecologist Prof David Lindenmayer from ANU.
