Heaps Good South Aussies | Dawn Jones on a mission to save stray dogs – from an airconned Coober Pedy shed

Come inside the headquarters of this one-woman crusade to clean up a town and help it’s most adorable residents in need.

Tiger the eight-year-old staffy bounds around with endless energy when Dawn Jones opens the gate from his cage and lets him roam in the airconditioned shed.

We’re on the outskirts of Coober Pedy, and Tiger was surrendered by his owners and left to fend for himself, roaming the streets of the dusty Far North town.

It’s a common occurrence up here, and feral dogs have been an issue for as long as anyone can remember.

But for the past four decades or so, Dawn Jones has been a one-woman crusade to rescue dogs, cats, kangaroos and any other type of stray animal in Coober Pedy. The town is the self-proclaimed opal capital of the world but it’s also a town without a permanent vet. The nearest one is more than 500km away in Port Augusta.

Dawn was just 18 and on a road trip from her home in the Blue Mountains when her car broke down here about 50 years ago. The rest, as they say, is history.

Dawn Jones with eight-year-old staffy Tiger. Picture: Dean Martin

She made a home in Coober Pedy. Got married, became a mother, grandmother and great grandmother and is now the person locals know they can go to for all of their animal welfare needs.

Until about 20 years ago, her main focus was running a kangaroo sanctuary. But then a pack of wild dogs killed a mob of about 30 roos, and some sheep and goats she was also looking after.

“After that, I thought that the dogs have got to be sorted out in the town,” she says.

“We had dogs and cats running around that were feral and mangy. We’d have bitches running up the street with pups hanging off them.

“Now we’ve got less feral dogs running around now, and less pups. We get a lot of pups surrendered now because a lot of people just only want two dogs now instead of 15 dogs or 10 dogs.”

Dawn plays with Tiger as she talks. The couple have only known each other about three weeks, but the love and respect between them is obvious.

Tiger’s got a sore foot at the moment after scratching her pad on one of the sharp rocks outside but Dawn hopes he’ll find a forever home soon with an elderly local looking for a new canine friend.

Dawn Jones with kelpie Mumma, who has six new pups to look after. Picture: Dean Martin

Once Tiger has had a good run, Dawn puts him back into his cage so she can give a kelpie a few doors down some time out of her cage. Dawn has named the kelpie Mumma, thanks to the six pups she is raising. They’re about 10-days old and are just starting to open their eyes.

Mumma had her litter inside a stinking hot tin shed in another part of town. Two of them died, before they could be rescued.

Dawn, now “in her late 60s” is the driving force behind Coober Pedy Animals Second Chance group and works with the council dog catcher to find, rehouse and care for stray animals.

For years she looked after them in her home.

At one stage, she had 30 pups, three bitches and 48 cats roaming through her humble three-bedroom dug-out.

The local council now lets her use this shed, but a recently formed committee is raising money to buy and kit out a permanent home base in Coober Pedy.

“Dawn is just a gem,” one local, who wanted to remain anonymous, tells The Sunday Mail. “She’s so overworked and underpaid, but she doesn’t do it for anything other than the animals, and that’s the beautiful thing.”

People can donate to Coober Pedy Animals Second Chance Facebook page.

Heaps Good South Aussies is a new weekly Sunday Mail series, celebrating the state’s everyday unsung heroes who go above and beyond to make your day