Roaming behaviour of dogs in four remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: preliminary investigations.

Molloy, S; Burleigh, A; Dürr, Salome Esther; Ward, M P (2017). Roaming behaviour of dogs in four remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: preliminary investigations. Australian veterinary journal, 95(3), pp. 55-63. Wiley 10.1111/avj.12562

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OBJECTIVE

To estimate the home range (HR) and investigate the potential predictors for roaming of 58 dogs in four Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

DESIGN

Prospective study.

PROCEDURE

Global positioning system (GPS) collars were attached to the dogs for 1-4 days, recording location fixes every 1-3 min. Utilisation distributions (UDs) and extended (95% isopleth) and core (50% isopleth) HRs of dogs were determined. Potential predictors of roaming were assessed.

RESULTS

Estimated core (median, 0.27 ha) and extended (median, 3.1 ha) HRs differed significantly (P = 0.0225 and 0.0345, respectively) between the four communities; dogs in the coastal community travelled significantly (P < 0.0001) more per day than dogs in the three inland communities studied. Significant associations were found between extended HR size and sex (P = 0.0050) and sex + neuter (P = 0.0218), and between core HR size and sex (P = 0.0010), neuter status (P = 0.0255) and sex + neuter (P = 0.0025). Entire males roamed more than neutered females. The core HR of dogs with poor/fair body condition scores (BCSs) was larger than dogs with ideal/obese BCSs (P = 0.0394). Neutered male dogs also travelled more per day than entire female dogs (P = 0.0475).

CONCLUSIONS

Roaming information can be used to inform the management of dogs in remote communities and to design disease control programs. Widespread data collection across the Northern Territory should be undertaken to further investigate the associations found in this study, considering that data were collected during relatively short periods of time in one season.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Research Foci > Veterinary Public Health / Herd Health Management
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH) > Veterinary Public Health Institute
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH)

UniBE Contributor:

Dürr, Salome Esther

Subjects:

600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

1751-0813

Publisher:

Wiley

Language:

English

Submitter:

Susanne Agnes Lerch

Date Deposited:

28 Jul 2017 13:19

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:03

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/avj.12562

PubMed ID:

28239863

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Indigenous communities; community dogs; global positioning systems; home range

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.97173

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/97173

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