How Far Do Dogs Roam in Remote Northern Australian Communities?

HOW FAR DO DOGS ROAM IN REMOTE NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITIES? 1 1 2 3 Dürr S , Ward M , Abreu C , Cookson B 1 The University of Sydney, 2 Queensland Health, 3 Department of Agriculture Introduction Australia and are known to frequent these communities. have a profound impact on native fauna, animal welfare Large populations of free-roaming dogs in and around and human health. However, little is known about the remote communities pose a risk for the spread of roaming behaviour of community dogs and their contact Dogs are numerous in remote communities in northern infectious diseases, including zoonoses. Rabies is one with wild dogs. Such knowledge is essential to Australia and, although owned, usually unrestrained. such disease which is exotic to Australia but whose parameterize epidemic simulation models, which are They are important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islan- incursion from Indonesia is a realistic threat. Subsequent useful tools to assess the spread and impact of disease der people and live in close relationship with them. infection of community and wild dog populations could incursion. Dingoes are also common across northern and remote Courtesy of Department of Agriculture Multiple dog household in Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island Dogs are living in close relationship to the Rabies spread in Indonesia; Relative risk map for Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island (NT) is one of the community members rabies along the northern Australian border participating communities Methods Estimation of home range Quantification of contact rates Home ranges and utilization distributions were calculated By counting the actual contacts – defining a contact Data collection: GPS and interviews using three different methods: the minimum convex between two dogs as being within a specific temporal and GPS collars were attached to 69 dogs in the pre-wet polygon (MCP); the location-based kernel density spatial distance from each other – a distance kernel season in six communities for a period of 1‒3 days and estimation (LKDE); and the biased random bridge (BRB). function could be fitted to the contact data using logistic positions were recorded every minute. 51 (74%) of these The influence of gender, age, breed of the dogs as well as regression: dogs could be re-collared in the post-wet season. Inter- their community and the season on the home range size Daily probability contact = views were conducted with dog owners to collect data has been explored. − 푖푛푡푒푟푐푒푝푡+ β ×푑푖푠푡푎푛푐푒 on dog movements between communities and dog bites. 1 1 + 푒 East Arnhem Land Northern Peninsula Area A community dog in Bamaga wearing a GPS collar The two study locations in northern Australia Data of 9 dogs (individual colours) in Seisia Conducting interviews with dog owners Results and discussion and UD shapes were found to be generally circular around highly depending in the distance between the dogs’ homes the dog owner’s house. However, some individuals were and can be quantified by the distance kernel function fitted The median core HRs (50% isopleth) of in total 79 dogs found to roam much more with a HR size of 40‒104 ha to the observed contact data. were estimated to range from 0.2 to 0.4 ha and the more and cover large areas of their community or occasionally Significant influence of gender, age and breed of the dogs extended HR (95% isopleth) to range from 3.4 to 5.3 ha, beyond. could be found neither for the home range size nor for the with larger home ranges in the pre-wet season. The HR The probability of having at least one daily contact is contact rates. MCP levels This distance kernel is further used to 80% 90% parameterize the contact rate between 95% dogs within a community. By combining the contact rate with the probability of disease transmission given a contact, the disease transmission rate can ultimately be calculated and integrated into a rabies spread model in the domestic dog population within and Home range of an example dog Home range of an example dog Home range of an example dog The probability of dogs having at least between communities in tropical estimated by the MCP method estimated by the BRB method (density estimated by the BRB method (density one contact per day depends on the northern Australia. kernels based on the dog’s tracks) kernels based on the dog’s locations) distance between the two households Impact and further steps This research provides new in-sight into potential rabies spread within the domestic dog population in northern Australia. The model’s structure can be extended to integrate wild dog populations and can also potentially be used to simulate the spread of other canine infectious diseases within these regions. Acknowledgements We thank all our collaborators in this study, the dogs owners and the funding partners! .

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