Animal Management

Extra care in hot weather

Due to the extreme weath­er con­di­tions dur­ing sum­mer months, please ensure your pet has access to ample clean, cool drink­ing water and shade. Extra sources of water, such as a small wad­ing pond, can help reduce the risk of heat stress to your pet. Ensure water bowls are sit­u­at­ed in shad­ed areas and not in direct sun­light dur­ing the day. Heat stress in ani­mals can devel­op very quick­ly, so here are a few tips on car­ing for your pet dur­ing hot weather:

• DO NOT exer­cise your pet dur­ing the heat of the day – exer­cise your pet in the ear­ly morn­ing and/​or late evening.
• Bitu­men, con­crete, bare ground and ute trays will burn paws in very hot tem­per­a­tures. If you are unable to walk on the hot ground bare­foot, chances are your dog won’t be able to either.
• NEV­ER, under any cir­cum­stances, leave your pet alone in a vehi­cle, or on the back of a vehi­cle – it takes just six min­utes for a dog to die in a hot car – even if the vehi­cle is parked in shade.
• Top up your pet’s water bowl regularly.

Dogs over six months of age must be reg­is­tered, and should be desexed. Coun­cil also rec­om­mends microchip­ping as the best method of iden­ti­fi­ca­tion to return lost ani­mals to their own­ers. More infor­ma­tion about reg­is­tra­tion and microchip­ping can be found here.

Where can I walk my dog?

Dogs can be exer­cised off-leash at cer­tain parks in Alice Springs from the hours of 5am-8am and again from 5pm-8pm. A full list of these parks can be found here. Dogs are required to be under effec­tive con­trol of own­ers at all times. This means that own­ers must be close enough to their dog to issue com­mands, and all dogs must respond to com­mands instant­ly. Any dog deemed by Rangers to be not under the con­trol of its own­er may be required to be put on-leash. 

Exclud­ing Anzac Oval and TIO Traeger Park, dogs may be exer­cised on Coun­cil sport­ing grounds between 5am and 8am. A full list of Coun­cil Sport­ing Facil­i­ties can be found here.

For the enjoy­ment of all users, please pick up after your pets. Coun­cil sup­plies ​‘dog­gy do’ bags and bins at most park loca­tions across the munic­i­pal­i­ty. Please report dam­aged bins or emp­ty ​‘dog­gy do’ bag con­tain­ers to Coun­cil Rangers on 8950 0500.

Din­goes are dangerous

Din­goes are a pro­tect­ed species in the NT. Cen­tral Aus­tralia is home to a large pop­u­la­tion of din­goes which forms a valu­able part of the region­al ecosystem.

How­ev­er din­goes are known to tar­get, lure and injure domes­tic ani­mals of all sizes, and can be extreme­ly dangerous.

While Coun­cil active­ly min­imis­es the threat that din­goes pose to res­i­dents and pets, these preda­tors remain a con­stant pres­ence on the town’s perime­ter. Dur­ing extreme­ly hot weath­er, din­goes will ven­ture fur­ther into urban areas seek­ing water and food. Coun­cil Rangers strong­ly rec­om­mend that care and vig­i­lance is exer­cised when walk­ing dogs through scrub­land, even in urban areas.

Though din­goes may be more cau­tious around humans, it is imper­a­tive to keep your pet near­by and under effec­tive con­trol, prefer­ably on-leash, in order to low­er the risk of an attack. Walk­ing dogs off-leash in scrub­land may appear to be safe, how­ev­er your pet can quick­ly become sep­a­rat­ed and vul­ner­a­ble to an unseen din­go. Aside from cer­tain parks, exer­cis­ing dogs on-leash is com­pul­so­ry under Alice Springs Town Coun­cil by-laws.

If you see a din­go with­in the munic­i­pal­i­ty, please con­tact NTG Parks & Wildlife Rangers on 8951 8250 or 0401 115 731. To report wild or stray dogs, please call Coun­cil’s Ranger Unit on 8950 0500.

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion on din­goes, click here.

Fire­work Safety

There are many cel­e­bra­tions across Aus­tralia that involve fire­work dis­plays, in par­tic­u­lar in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. While fire­works are often enjoyed by humans, they can cause fear and dread for many dogs and oth­er animals.

It’s impor­tant to pre­pare ear­ly to care for your pets when you know a fire­works dis­play is com­ing up. For a full list of upcom­ing fire­work dis­plays, you can vis­it NT Work­Safe here.

For tips on how to care for your dog dur­ing fire­works, vis­it the RSP­CA web­site for some valu­able information.