In Queensland, tens of thousands of cattle die of thirst and hunger encircled by fresh water and grass

Cattle stranded amid flood water on a station near Julia Creek, Queensland. ‘They are not leaving their little islands, they are just starving themselves to death’ one grazier says. Photograph: Cody Rogers

Stranded upon sodden islands that dot the submerged plains of outback north-west Queensland, encircled by fresh water and with grass growing before their eyes, tens of thousands of cattle are dying of thirst and hunger.

“It sounds completely absurd,” grazier Angus Propsting says. “But they are actually perishing because they are not drinking, even though they are surrounded by water.”