Rabies : a Forceful Argument for Urban Animal Management

D.J.D. Banks

Abstract

Urban animal management would be a key factor in the success or failure of an eradication program for urban rabies if an outbreak were to occur in Australia. The greatest threat of introducing the disease is through the entry of infected animals and a number of measures are in place to counter this. All imported animals that represent a risk are placed under quarantine control on arrival, so that any outbreak would be contained within a quarantine station. Surveillance is maintained at our ports and along the coastline to detect the illegal importation of animals, and surveys of animal diseases in neighbouring countries provide advance warning of the proximity of rabies to our borders. However, due to the long incubation period of this disease, these preventative measures can only reduce the probability of an outbreak, and plans to eliminate the disease if it entered the country have been drawn up and are constantly being refined. The essential elements of an urban control program would include movement control, compulsory mass vaccination, stray control and eliciting the cooperation of the public through media campaigns. The critical role of urban animal management in the success of such a program is emphasised throughout.

About the author

D.J.D. Banks BSc BVetMed DTVM PhD MRCVS MACVSc
Animal Quarantine and Exports Branch
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
Department of Primary Industries and Energy
PO Box 858
CANBERRA
AUSTRALIA 2601
Phone (06)272 5527
Fax (06)272 3110

David Banks was born in the UK and graduated from London University in 1974. After a period in mixed practice, he spent a year studying tropical diseases at Edinburgh University before taking up a position in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. It was there that he gained his first experience with the social complexities of dog population control after a hydatids scare.

As a post-graduate student in Townsville, he teamed up with Dick Murray in an unsuccessful attempt to set up a dog control program for the Council of Palm Island, a small Islander community just off the North Queensland coast. Although the Council was keen to control the dog population, it soon became clear that the rest of the community was not.

He then spent several years as a research scientist with CSIRO, based in Fiji but involved in livestock research programs throughout the Pacific. In his spare time he frequently spayed bitches for various island councils in an attempt to control the dog populations that abound on even the smallest island. A spay cost the owner one can of beer and although the effect on the dog populations in the islands was of questionable value, consuming the proceeds by the lagoon made it all worthwhile.

During his time in the Pacific Islands he encountered one of the better animal control schemes in the region on some of the tiny atolls which make up the country of Tuvalu. One island kept only male dogs while a neighbouring island permitted only females. When more dogs were required, bitches on heat were taken to neutral territory - a small islet between the two larger islands - where they were united with suitable males from the other island. Most of the human population turned up to watch, and a joyous time was had by all. When the resultant pups were weaned they were distributed to new owners on each island according to their sex. They were some of the healthiest, and least troublesome dogs in the Pacific.

Now, as a Canberra bureaucrat trying to reconcile the unattainable promises of politicians with the impossible demands of the public, he is convinced that there are few animal problems that do not have a comparatively simple solution. Solving the problems of their owners is a different matter altogether.

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