Twenty years ago, when Gloria Morales arrived in Yuendumu, a remote community in Australia’s Northern Territory, “there were dead dogs everywhere”, she remembers.
An overpopulation crisis meant dogs were starving, sick, covered in mange. They were unvaccinated, malnourished, easily infected with bacteria, and their puppies were dying from infections. Many of the dogs were aggressive too, fighting and killing each other over territory and food. Like many of Australia’s remote Indigenous communities, Yuendumu had no vet and the nearest was located in Alice Springs, about 300km (186 miles) away.
