Volunteers are doing their best to care for dogs stranded in remote Northern Territory communities hit by flooding, most of whom had to stay behind while their owners were evacuated to Darwin.
Massive, sudden flooding saw the evacuation of 700 people from communities along the Victoria River west of Katherine last week.
Authorities have not yet said exactly when they expect residents will be able to return to Kalkarindji, Daguragu and Pigeon Hole, where beloved pets and free-ranging camp dogs were left behind last week.
But efforts to look after the animals have been made by volunteers involved in assessing the damage and beginning repairs on the ground.
Electrician Mark Ennis told ABC Radio Darwin he and some fellow contractors have been able to keep the animals fed in both Kalkarindji and Daguragu.
He said the territory government provided funds for a metric tonne of dry dog food, which the volunteers got flown in using a cattle mustering helicopter.
Mr Ennis said he has been making his way from house to house to coax the animals out for a feed.
"There's a lot of anxiety, they've been through a lot," he said.
"[And] while you know you're trying to save them, they don't know that."
But he said the dogs were starting to warm to him — all 80 to 100 of them left behind.
"Hopefully they're reaching some normality now," he said.
"I'm also getting a small collection in my backyard of dogs that aren't getting along with the others."
Mr Ennis has been posting photos of the dogs on Facebook, where residents stranded in Darwin have voiced relief that their pets are still alive.
Concerns about spread of tick-borne virus
While the dogs are getting fed and have shelter, there are concerns that diseases spread by ticks could threaten their health.
Katherine vet Alex Burleigh echoed Mr Ennis' concern about the potential spread of the tick-borne and potentially fatal ehrlichiosis virus.
He said the disease was first detected in the territory in 2020 and had spread "like a wave".
"The disease is one of the worst we've had enter the country, it's an awful, awful disease," he said.
"During the wet season we see a lot more ticks and we see a lot more of the disease spread ... the amount of ticks that would be happening right now would be quite large."
Dr Burleigh said the floods meant a planned visit by vets who would have undertaken tick control in the community has been cancelled.
Mr Ennis said he had appealed to the territory government for help to stop the spread of the disease, which Dr Burleigh said will be difficult because of the intensive antibiotics regime required.
But he said oral worming medication could be used to keep parasite numbers down.
"The best thing that we can be doing for these dogs is trying to reduce as much stress as possible," he said.
"[That means] when possible, trying to get them to their home environments, making sure that they have their food, worming them, de-ticking them".
