Animal Scientist

Aimee Brown

Growing up in the country town of Glen Innes, it was always Kylie Dunn’s dream to become a vet. But a visit to a careers day at university while still in high school prompted her to follow a different path.

Now in her third year of an Animal and Veterinary Bioscience degree at the University of Sydney, Dunn is well on her way to being an animal scientist. While it’s a broad field, Dunn wants to specialise. “I want to get into breeding and reproductive technology,” she says.

Dunn plans to write her fourth and final year research project on this topic. She then hopes to return to her rural background and secure a job advising cattle and sheep studs on options for reproductive technology.

“I want to go out into the country advising people of breeding programs and techniques, such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer,” she says. These techniques are most commonly used in sheep and cattle studs, rather than racing animal studs, “as there are often strict breeding regulations in [racing]”. While Dunn’s interests are specific, she says the course encompasses the whole spectrum of animal science. “We have a choice of going into either genetics or production. With production you can go into applied reproduction which is what I am interested in,” she says. “With research, you can get into health and quarantine and also pharmaceutical work.”

Other fields include sustainable agriculture, animal nutrition, molecular genetics, medical research and zoo animal science. Her country upbringing meant Dunn was already at ease with animals, but she says the first year covered all the basics for those who hadn’t had a great deal of experience with animals.

“There’s a lot of animal-handling to start off with to get people comfortable with them,” she says. There is also a strong focus on work experience. Students complete 30 days practical “on farm” experience and 30 days research. “It is designed to get you thinking about what you want to do,” Dunn says. “It’s one of the great things about the degree, there are so many options.”

How to be an … animal scientist
You will need to complete a degree in animal and veterinary bioscience at university.
Details: contact University of Sydney, 02 9351 2441 or http://www.vetsci.usyd.edu.au/

By Aimee Brown, The Daily Telegraph, July 8, 2006.