Image: Still shot from the animation, showing a cat catching a bilby out on country
The Threatened Species Recovery Hub (TSRH) was a six-year long collaboration to deliver research to support the recovery of threatened species in Australia. Many of the threatened species in Australia are threatened directly by cat populations – both domestic and feral. With cat ownership becoming increasingly popular in both city and remote settings, responsible pet ownership education is of the utmost importance in order to curb the potentially devastating effects this will have on Australian native wildlife.
Recognising AMRRIC’s expertise in developing culturally appropriate educational materials around responsible pet ownership across all age groups, TSRH invited AMRRIC to collaborate in the development of an animation focused on cats on country and in communities. AMRRIC’s Education Officers assisted with story boarding, script writing, and animation review to ensure that the animation remained engaging and relevant for the unique contexts of remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The result as an impactful educational resource that details the prolific breeding and hunting potential of cats, as well as the value in having cats desexed and contained indoors, especially at night. Suitable for all ages, the animation emphasises the importance of cat population management in relation to looking after country and maintaining Australia’s beautiful diversity. TSRH staff brought the story to light with a wonderful and engaging animation and AMRRIC were so pleased to be able to be a part of the process.
Collaboration is the key to One Health, allowing cross disciplinary barriers to be broken and people from various organisations to come together to produce effective, relevant, and culturally appropriate materials, such as this animation. In doing so, these educational tools can then be shared across a greater network, with enhanced accessibility.
AMRRIC would like to extend a huge thanks to the Threatened Species Recovery Hub for their invitation to collaborate on the project, as well as to the animators (MaxFoo), the Australian Government – National Indigenous Australians Agency, the voice actors, and everyone else involved in the project. AMRRIC are looking forward to the translations of this video and welcome the sharing of the video amongst our supporter’s networks.
