Vet students address need for more dog sterilisation in Leonora with Murdoch on the Road program

A group of university vet students have returned to the northern Goldfields to sterilise and vaccinate animals in remote areas.

The Murdoch on the Road program responded to a rise in the number of dogs needing care in Leonora, and saw improvements to animal health in Tjuntjuntjara.

A team of three vets, six students and one vet nurse visited Tjuntjuntjara, Leonora, and Wiluna on their most recent animal welfare trip for the Murdoch remote outreach animal de-sexing program — known as Murdoch on the Road.

Program co-ordinator Dr Nicole Laing said it was great to see the number of dogs needing care in Tjuntjuntjara had reduced.

“We did 17 surgeries and normally we do about 24-25, so that’s a good sign the numbers are reducing,” she said.

“The dogs on the street are definitely healthier looking, and there are less of them.”

The program visits the Goldfields twice a year, and Dr Laing said the vets would visit Leonora both times this year because of a rise in dog numbers.

“Leonora had quite a problem with their dog numbers, so they asked if we could include them in the April trip,” she said.

“Leonora is closer to urban areas, so I guess more people come in with their dogs.”

The team did 19 surgeries over two days in Leonora, which Dr Laing said was a small increase.

“When we come through in November, we will do Laverton, Warburton, and Warakurna, and we’ll do another day in Leonora because they definitely need some more work done there,” Dr Laing said.

The Murdoch on the Road program has been running for 16 years, and Dr Laing said she had “certainly” seen big improvements in animal welfare over the years.

“What we see is not just a reduction in the number of dogs free roaming on the streets, but the general body condition score, how they look skin-wise, the amount of tick infestation,” she said.

“If we miss one or two years, the health drops off in the dogs, so it’s definitely a program that really needs to be maintained.”

The Murdoch on the Road program relies on State Government funding, and Dr Laing said she was still waiting to hear if funding would be renewed for the next financial year.

“This is the last year of our current grant funding so we are very hopeful that the State Government will continue to fund the program,” she said.

“But we haven’t been able to hear from the State Government as to whether that’s going to happen.”

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s wild dog action plan has provided $890,000 in program funding since 2017, and a $50,000 animal welfare grant for cats.

More than 4500 procedures have been performed as part of the Murdoch on the Road program since 2010.

“It works out to be around about $150,000 a year to run five two-week programs,” Dr Laing said.

“It’s a very economical program if you think about the outcomes that we get with that small amount of money from the Government’s perspective.”