For 28 years veterinarian surgeon Dr Bob Irving spent half of each year travelling to Aboriginal remote communities in the Anangu-Yankunyjatjara-Pitjantjatjara (AYP) lands in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory to treat sick animals, mostly dogs.

Funded by government Dog Health Program, Bob travelled by road to many remote areas in dangerous terrain. In early days, he often had to camp out with his swag and cook over an open fire. Originally beginning in South Australia, he soon realised that dogs were travelling from interstate for sporting events, funerals and ceremonial activities, so he extended the program to communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Since Bob’s retirement, this valuable service has been taken over by AMRRIC after he took a team of young vets to the communities which Bob used to visit. This ensured the new team were familiar with the local environment, the people to liaise with, and could keep the programs rolling. The new team of vets has been well received across the APY lands and the WA regions, with the programs continuing to improve the welfare of all the animals out there. This in turn improves human health as well by reducing the risk of transmission of skin infections, diarrheal diseases and chronic gut parasitic infections from dogs to humans.

Bob misses the people out there, the great relationships he had, and the countryside which was a big part of his life for 28 years. He is grateful to all the aboriginal people who made him feel welcome and assisted willingly with the programs. However, he keeps busy and since his retirement from remote work, Bob regularly does Locum Veterinary work in Adelaide clinics when needed. He is also a voluntary on call member of SAVEM, (South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management), which involves assisting in emergency animal welfare issues after natural disasters such as the recent bushfires and flooding, where animals require urgent treatments and/or rescue. In addition, he is maintaining his training in Biosecurity issues to assist in the event of an outbreak of exotic disease entering Australia from overseas.