A volunteer animal rescue worker has described the abuse and neglect of dogs in the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah, south of Cairns, as "out of control".

Lyn Dadd, 59, visits Yarrabah two to three times a week with approval from the local council, and estimates she had rescued at least 2,000 dogs from the community in the past two years.

WARNING: Images of distressed and injured animals in this story will be distressing to some people.

She believed the problem was escalating and said she had been particularly disturbed by several cases in the past week, including finding a dog with a hacked-off paw and finding another beaten so badly it could not walk.

"I received a phone call from a distraught woman asking for help," she said.

"Her brother had beaten his dog in a fit of rage the previous night, kicking her several times.

Ms Dadd said she regularly drove hundreds of kilos of food out to starving dogs. ( Supplied: Lyn Dadd )

"I raced out, put the dog into my vehicle, and she passed on the way to the vet."

On Wednesday, Ms Dadd said she saw an emaciated female Bull Arab cross struggling to walk.

This dog had its paw hacked off and was put to sleep by a vet because it would not have survived surgery. ( Supplied: Lyn Dadd )

"When I pulled over I noticed that the paw was gone," she said.

"It was a clean cut, like a cut you could imagine ... with a cane cutting knife.

"It was an extremely clean cut, so it's not a cut where she'd been hit and lost a paw."

Ms Dadd said she took the dog to the vet, but it was put down.

"One look at the Bull Arab and [the vet] said, 'no, the animal needs to be put to sleep — it would not cope with an operation, it's too far gone as far as infection and starvation'," she said.

She said the vet estimated the dog had been missing a paw for at least a month and she thought it was "distressing" no-one had sought help for the animal in that time.

"They do have animal management [workers], I don't understand how people have just missed it or accepted it," she said.

"Acceptance of these conditions is terrible. People just accept dogs that are starved and injured and I feel it really has to stop, something has to happen."

Starving dogs scrambling for food dished out in the community of Yarrabah by Ms Dadd. ( Supplied: Lyn Dadd )

Ms Dadd said she rescued two more puppies the same day - one had two broken legs after apparently being hit by a car the previous week — it was also put down.

The other dog had been scalded by boiling water in what was believed was an accident.

"These are just four incidences in one week, but this goes on continuously — maybe not to this level every week but it does happen," she said.

Ms Dadd said many dogs roamed the community, and while council animal management workers sometimes rounded them up, what was needed was a concerted desexing program and stricter owner controls.

"One household out there's got 13 dogs and this is a two-bedroom duplex. It's out of control. And these dogs just keep breeding and breeding sickness.

"Faeces everywhere with the dogs roaming, then there's children roaming with no shoes on.

"A lot of people say, I can't afford a vet. Well, when you own 10 dogs and they're ill, you have to afford the vet."

Ms Dadd said each time she visited Yarrabah she took 200 to 300 kilograms of discounted meat off-cuts to feed the dogs (paid for by donations) and was swamped every time.

"They'll climb six-foot fences because they are hungry. They know the vehicle and they will chase the vehicle."

This injured puppy was accidentally scalded by boiling water. ( Supplied: Lyn Dadd )

The RSPCA said it was investigating reports of a dog recently being kicked to death in Yarrabah.

RSPCA Queensland chief inspector Daniel Young said they were aware of some issues in the community and were working with the council and residents to address them.

"There are a large number of dogs and I think a lot of these issues should be addressed at a local council level before they become a welfare concern and become a RSPCA matter," he said.

"Most councils in urban areas, you're only allowed two dogs for example."

'Not enough money' to deal with the problem

Yarrabah Aborginal Shire council CEO, Janelle Menzies, said there was not enough money or resources to fully deal with the problem, admitting it was "out of control".

Ms Menzies said the problem became worse when council had to stop its de-sexing program 12 months ago and use its resources to deal with a spike in stray and starving horses.

"It is definitely out of control. The state of the injuries … I don't think I've seen anything that bad before, but some of the malnutrition is often a common occurrence," she said.

Ms Menzies said council would recommence its dog de-sexing program later this month and was conducting an audit on dog numbers.

"We've got a vet coming at the end of July, then they will be coming fortnightly for an intensive three-month program so hopefully we'll start to see some improvements," she said.

"It's just been let go for 12 months and for [a de-sexing program] to work it needs to be ongoing.

"We have been lobbying the State Government for more funding considering we are one of the biggest Indigenous communities but we get the same amount of funding as all the other Indigenous communities.

"We get poorly funded [but] we're trying to meet the concerns of the RSPCA."

Mr Young said RSPCA Queensland's de-sexing campaign treated 20,000 animals last year, and a similar program would be a "good place to start".

"But it's something that needs to continue — if you're going to start these programs it needs to be ongoing for them to have any real effect or impact on the animals long-term," he said.

Mr Young said people should report animal welfare concerns to the RSPCA, and officers could help without necessarily resorting to prosecution.