Supplies of dog food for drought-stricken farmers who cannot afford to feed their four-legged workers will be in the next consignment for the outback from Thornton charity Aussie Care.
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“We won’t just be taking food for people next time – one of our priorities will be delivering dog food,” Aussie Care national co-ordinator Peter West said.
Mr West was speaking yesterday after his return from food deliveries to farmers around Gilgandra, Walgett, Lightning Ridge and Bourke.
“It is quite heartbreaking to see farmers desperate to get food for their dogs,” Mr West said.
“Farmers and their dogs are a very special group.
“To a man and woman of the land, their dogs are everything.
“In these hard times and in those areas, a good dog is worth 10 men.
“But the drought has affected people out there so badly that some don’t have food for their dogs.
“So in our next load, supplies of dog food will get top priority.”
Mr West said his main job had been to deliver food to people in areas where there were people who knew how to distribute it to those in need.
“This trip has shown us the truly desperate plight of so many in the NSW outback and on our next trip we will be taking a bigger truck,” he said.
“I met one cotton farmer who once employed 100 staff – today he employs only two people.
“In some fields there was not a single blade of grass that I could see.
“So many farmers are trucking their livestock off their properties and taking them to Victoria.
“And a pastor at Gilgandra said his townsfolk had suffered a total of seven suicides because of the drought.”
Food supplies brought into the drought areas by various means and by other organisations had been well received.
“We passed through some areas that did have a bit of rain recently, but the situation remains desperate,” Mr West said.
“For those farmers, it can still be up to 12 months before they can turn produce grown with some rain into dollars.”