Veterinarians and the animal health industry rally to support North Queensland

07 May 2019
vet voice - floods - queensland

Areas of flood affected North Queensland continue to reel from the effects of the recent devastating floods. In the immediate aftermath, the priority of veterinarians, the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) and animal health companies, was to provide urgent veterinary assistance, animal health advice and medication to help mitigate the animal welfare disaster created by the floods.

The Australian Cattle Veterinarians (ACV), a special Interest Group of the AVA provided invaluable assistance to the flood affected region, including co-ordinating urgent distribution of donated medications and animal health products, providing animal health fact sheets, and establishing a 24-hour veterinary hotline manned by volunteer veterinarians.

The aftermath of the floods continues to be felt by the communities of North Queensland, both on farms and in the local businesses that support them. This secondary impact can threaten the viability of regional small business that, although vital to the community, are not directly involved in farming. For this reason, the AVA and ACV were proud to support the Sisters of the North Inc at the recent ACV Charity Auction.

The Charity Auction took place during the ACV Annual Dinner on the Gold Coast in March. The total amount raised through a raffle, an online Facebook auction and live auction was $21, 800.

Dr Paula Parker, AVA President said “it is an outstanding result for the flood effected communities in the north. Our members were passionate about supporting the Sisters of the North Charity for this event. The Sisters of the North use donated funds to provide voucher assistance, redeemable at local businesses, to members of flood affected communities. This model ensures that the benefits of the donated funds stay in the region and helps support the whole community doing it tough in the coming months as they recover from the floods.”

The ACV and the AVA would like to acknowledge and thank the following companies who have made generous donations to the recovery efforts and the charity auction including; Provet, Zoetis, Troy, Apiam Animal Health, Hills, Norbrook, Bayer, Idexx, Boehringer Ingelheim, Vetoquinol, Phibro, Zebravet, QSML, Ausrichter, Virbac, Coopers Animal Health, Livestock Health Systems, The Vet Group and Fraser Livestock Transport.

Individual private practitioners and veterinary clinics were also incredibly generous with their time and donated hand-made and crafted items such as pottery wind-chimes (Bundarra Pottery), hand-stitched leather belts (Scott Parry) and even a bespoke ACV watercolour painting to the Charity Auction.