Bondi Vet Dr Chris Brown swaps sandy beaches for sandy deserts to improve the lives of needy animals. By Mary Kiley

These days he’s best known as the charming vet with the movie-star good looks who appears in Channel Ten’s reality series Bondi Vet, but for the past 10 years Dr Chris Brown and his father, Dr Graeme Brown, have represented the only veterinary care available in some of Australia’s most far-flung Aboriginal communities.

Even before he qualified as a vet, Dr Chris would accompany his dad on trips to places like Yuendumu in the Northern Territory, Yarrabah in north Queensland, and Goodooga, a little town outside of Bourke, NSW, to bring better health care to the pets and, by extension, the people of these remote areas.

“Some of these places have never really had vets at all,” says Dr Chris. “They have huge numbers of dogs – some of which have owners, most of which don’t – and they have huge problems with ticks, fleas, worms and mange and a lot of these bugs can be transferred to people, so it’s a human health issue as well.”

Along with treating and de-sexing animals, Dr Chris’s main role is to teach the locals about the importance of pet care. “We try to educate them about the best way to look after the dogs and limit how many they have. Some places we go it’s an average of four dogs per person.

“A lot are part dingo crossed with cattle dogs,” he continues. “But it can be funny – one day you’ll see a whole lot of dogs with short stumpy legs and long ears and you’ll find out there was a plumber in the community six months ago who brought his basset hound…”

For Dr Chris, building trust has been a big part of the job.

“We tend to go to similar places because we’ve established contact,” he explains. “They need to know you’re not going to do the wrong thing by them and put down all their dogs.”

And it’s a two-way street, because Dr Chris often requires the help of locals to catch and treat stray dogs.

“They’re generally not that trusting of white people, so we often have to recruit some of the local Aboriginal people to help – to hold them for you while you treat them.”

In addition to aiding animals, these trips have allowed Dr Chris to discover parts of Australia few people ever see, as well as meet some amazing people and hear their stories.

“I remember one of the first trips to Yuendumu in about 2000. I met a man who was a boy when the first white settlers came to that area – I guess they were farmers looking for new grazing land – and he didn’t even know white men existed. He saw the tyre tracks in the dunes and thought it was a serpent going across the land! He saw a white man on a horse and thought they were one big scary animal. He would have been in his 90s and he was a pretty incredible guy.”

But travelling in such remote places comes with its fair share of hazards. On one memorable trip in 2004, after a long day’s work, Dr Chris was driving back from Goodooga to Bourke on an unsealed road when disaster struck.

“I lost control of the brand new Mitsubishi Pajero and rolled it and wrote it off,” he recalls.

“I was okay, but Dad didn’t escape totally unhurt. He was in hospital for a couple of days, but his biggest concern wasn’t the car or himself – it was the fact that he’d lost his tick samples! He had 20 ticks that were threatening to escape their jars. I didn’t manage to collect them all. He still reminds me.”

It’s hardly surprising, then, that Dr Chris is always happy to return home to his pet cat George, Rusty the kelpie and his Bondi practice. But looking after stray dogs that live off what they can catch or salvage from bins tends to put things in perspective, especially when it comes to dealing with pampered pooches whose owners fret if they miss a meal.

“You become a bit hardened by what you see in these places,” he admits. “You almost feel like pulling these poodles aside and saying, ‘Look guys, not eating because you don’t like your food is not really reasonable. There are dogs doing it a lot harder than you are.

Be grateful for what you’ve got!’”

Dr Chris’s top tips for travelling with pets

Preparation: A lot of pets don’t travel well. Before deciding if you should take your pet on holiday with you, conduct a test drive. Put your pet in the car at the time of day you’re going to be driving on holiday for at least half an hour.

If they fret or get sick, consider making other arrangements for your pet.

Safety: There’s nothing more dangerous than having an animal loose inside the car, so make them secure in a cage or harness.

Rest: Just like kids, animals get restless and frustrated. Take regular stops to let them stretch their legs, have a drink and relieve themselves. Don’t give them big meals before the trip and make sure they’re on a leash so they can’t run out into traffic.

For more information go to Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities.

Bondi Vet returns to Ten on July 29 at 7.30pm.

Open Road July/August 2010