Fatigued animal rescuer has written of her heartbreak after rescuing dogs close to death

An emotionally exhausted animal rescuer has written of her heartbreak after rescuing three dogs close to death on one day. WARNING: Distressing images

A fatigued animal welfare advocate has written of her heartbreak after rescuing dogs close to death from remote communities while supporters have criticised the lack of the action by the RSPCA.

“Some people say they can’t follow Bush Dogs because of exactly what is posted here … I have to post what I’m faced with constantly because if I didn’t nobody would know about the sheer hell that goes on,” Lyn Dadd wrote on her rescue groups Facebook page.

But an RSPCA and a local council spokesman both say they first need to receive an official complaint before they can act on any allegations about animal neglect, even if they are shared on social media.

Ms Dadd, who runs the Bush Dogs & Pups rescue group out of Cairns, wrote of her increasing distress next to photos of an ill puppy and a video of a dog so severely injured it could not walk.

“I’ve know this old dog for years now the last time I saw him was months back.” Ms Dadd wrote.

“I asked the owner then ‘could I please have him as he was suffering’. the guy told me to f**k off … this is after I had helped feed and worm a litter of pups at this address (sic).

“I also asked, for all my work, could I have a puppy? Then his language got really nasty … So I haven’t been back since,” she said.

An old, injured dog rescued by the Bush Dogs & Pups group is pictured in a still from a video Picture: Facebook

Ms Dadd said she was driving past on Sunday when she saw the elderly dog bleeding from his legs and dragging himself along.

“I went in and spoke to the woman there she said they had been waiting for … animal management to come and kill him … I said no he has to go now to the vet (and) she said ok (sic),” she wrote.

“I asked if there were any other sick dogs. she said there was a pup (that) looks like it’s dying in the shed. I went in and found him lying in poo … no water or food … I took him also. he screamed in pain when I picked him up. he had a huge lump on his head and his back leg was limp (sic).”

Ms Dadd, who has spent the past five years voluntarily rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming mistreated dogs and puppies, said the woman told her she thought one of the other dogs had bitten the puppy.

“By now I felt like I was going to be sick where I stood … my chest was tight I just couldn’t take it all in,” she wrote.

Ms Dadd said she collected another seriously ill dog from a different home before taking them to a vet in Cairns, where the two senior dogs and the puppy were euthanised.

She wrote the vet determined the anaemic puppy also had a broken hip, worms, fleas and lice.

The second seriously ill dog rescued by the Bush Dogs & Pups rescue from the same remote community on Sunday. Picture: Facebook

Several animal lovers, including Kylie Mackay and Denise Tierney, expressed their disappointment in what they claimed was the lack of action by the RSPCA when it came to allegedly mistreated animals in some Indigenous communities.
But an RSPCA spokesman said no formal complaints about the dogs in the photos had been received.

“ … Disgusting, disturbing shame on North QLD,” Ms Mackay wrote under the Bush Dogs & Pups Facebook post.

“Animal abuse and torture going on in our own back yard. … is allowed to happen, the suffering, cruelty and torture of these poor dogs (sic).

“We aren’t living in a third world country!”

Ms Tierney agreed, saying the condition of the dogs in the photos and video were “akin to the poor strays in India not the Lucky Country.”

A spokesman for the community’s council said animal management in the shire was managed through a partnership with government agencies and non-government organisations like the RSPCA and Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC).

“Our local plan is focused on our response capability for matters in (the area). Like in every community, we have cooperative and uncooperative animal owners,” he said.

The dog with the deformed legs had to be euthanised. Picture: Bush Dogs & Pups/Facebook

“It is our endeavour to apply appropriate management responses to our local issues. As stated we have adapted our plans to reflect the local need. We will continue to work with our partners to address local issues.

“Any assumption that we do not have a plan for Animal Management nor are capable of managing our affairs is misinformed and misguided.”
Another spokesman said lack of government funding meant the council only had one animal management officer but needed more.

RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said any witnesses to animal neglect should make a formal complaint.

“We need to get the person who has actually witnessed the dogs to put in a formal complaint on 1300 ANIMAL,” he said.

“It can’t just be someone’s friend who has seen it on social media.

“They can also email a complaint to [e-mail].”

Ms Dadd – who called on authorities to step in and address the ongoing mistreatment of animals in some small and remote communities back in 2019 – visits the communities to find ‘bush dogs’ in need of help.

Usually dogs are fed, treated and returned to their owners where possible.