Australia provides the backdrop for our latest international filming assignment.

As part of our partnership with world wide animal health company, Ceva, we are creating videos looking at a variety of subjects including products to improve sheep production and a successful campaign to help improve the health of Australia’s population of iconic koalas.

Ceva is recognized as an expert in the field of small ruminants reproduction. Innovation has been the driver for Ceva when developing products for small ruminant veterinarians and producers. The use of melatonin (Regulin®) as a reproductive tool was one of the latest contributions of Ceva in this field and we will be filming a video report in connection with the work being carried out in as part of this process in Australia.

Regulin® is designed to reduce the number of dry ewes.  This occurred in 96% of the trials conducted. Trials have shown that there is a reduction in the number of non-pregnant ewes by over 30%. In the absence of other identifiable fertility problems, the lower the lambing percentage, the more potential Regulin offers to reduce dry ewes.

A further benefit is there is less variability in lambing percentages.   Increased twining also is a result of Regulin.  These are from ewes that would have produced twins had they been joined in Autumn.

Australian koalas are being successfully cured of a life-threatening disease, chlamydia, and released back into the wild, thanks to the help of global animal health company, Ceva Santé Animale.

Between 30 and 50 per cent of the Australian koala population in the wild were suffering from chlamydia. There were fears that the sexually transmitted disease, which causes infertility, blindness and even death, could eventually wipe out the entire koala population.

Ceva Australia had stopped manufacture of chloramphenicol, an older type of antibiotic, when they learned that it was the primary drug used to treat chlamydia in koalas.  Dr. Finola McConaghy, Ceva’s Technical Services Manager, was in contact with fellow veterinarians at the world famous Australia Zoo in Brisbane and offered to manufacture a new batch of the medicine to help combat the problem. Now other animal centres in Australia are treating their own koalas affected by the disease.

We will be travelling to Brisbane to update the story of Ceva’s role in helping to combat a growing problem of chlamydia, which has been threatening the health of the famous marsupials.

Australia Zoo senior vet Amber Gillett says Ceva’s intervention had been vital in tackling the chlamydia problem:

“I can’t emphasise enough how vital this drug is for treating chlamydia in koalas. We’ve tried multiple different drugs, and there is simply nothing as effective as this is. We’re eternally grateful for Ceva coming on board and agreeing to manufacture a large batch of this drug for us.”

Martin Mitchell, Group Communication Director of Ceva Santé Animale says: “When we learned of this problem we were delighted to react and play our role in safeguarding this iconic marsupial. Ceva is committed to combatting disease in animals to protect their welfare, not only is this the right thing to do, in the end we also help protect ourselves and importantly our environment.”