‘Last dog swam out the gate’: YAPS cleans up after deluge

The situation at well-known at a well-known animal was catastrophic but locals responded fast to a call for help to evacuate dogs – and the last dog had to swim out the gate.

Locals responded quickly to a desperate call out from YAPS to evacuate dogs on Sunday – now there’s a big clean up ahead.

Carol Clifton from YAPS began the clean up with her team on Monday.

“It was rushed yesterday, the water came up very, very quickly, we had about two hours,” she said.

YAPS animal refuge and boarding kennels endured a torrent of water on Monday.

“Fortunately all of our YAPS dogs were already out, from when we had the cyclone come in, so we had about 15 of our dogs plus all the boarding dogs.

“We posted on Facebook and people were here, we had more people than what we had dogs,” she said.

Cairns floods 2023: YAPS on McGregor Rd at Smithfield is flooded, but staff called on volunteers to rescue animals from the shelter earlier today. Picture: Supplied

“It was fantastic, considering the roads were cut in many, many places,” Ms Clifton said.

“The last dog had to swim out the gate, that’s how deep the water was getting.

She said fridges and freezers floated away.

Originally published as ‘Last dog swam out the gate’: YAPS cleans up after deluge