WHO LET THE DOGS OUT: Papier-maché dogs and a canine doctor puppet (inset) which appear in a couple of films about dog health.
ART IN PROGRESS: Joie Boulter watches Dion Beasley create illustrations for pamphlets on dog health in the Barkly.
AN exhibition of posters based on spreading healthy messages about dogs is on at the local library.
Students from Tennant Creek Primary School (Years 5 and 6) created the posters, which deliver messages about dogs in the community, earlier this year.
The posters are part of a project, run by Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC), to develop visually-based education resources focusing on our canine companions.
Project Officer in Tennant Creek, Ktima Heathcote, said the project addresses a dire need for appropriate educational resources and approaches on dog health to be developed in the Barkly region.
“Dogs are an important part of the community, and I have been working alongside communities in Tennant Creek and the Barkly to facilitate sustainable and culturally sensitive health messages about dogs,” she said.
“The positive response from the community and local organisations such as the Papulu Apparr-Kari Language Centre and Barkly Shire has shown just how important dog health is to local people.”
Other resources in the Barkly Dog Health project include pamphlets, films, and talking books and posters in both English and Warumungu.
Dion Beasley, of Cheeky Dog fame, has been working on five pamphlets.
After consultation with the community, simple stories on how best people can look after their dogs were developed with Dion and his carer Joie Boulter selecting the best drawings to illustrate each story.
Students from schools throughout the Barkly have been making and starring in films, including animation, to help spread healthy messages about dogs and to cover topics such as germs and sickness and taking care of our four-legged friends.
“Children came up with skits and puppet shows highlighting different ways to take care of dogs in the community,” said Ms Heathcote.
“We even had a dog doctor puppet and papier-mache dogs which starred in the films.”
Alistair Burns, an animator from Papulu Apparr-Kari Language Centre in Tennant Creek, has also been working on a fun animation, called Puppy Maths, about how easy it is for puppies to breed.
AMRRIC EO Julia Hardaker said the purpose of developing and providing these appropriately developed resources is to increase outcomes for animal welfare and the realm of public health and environmental initiatives in town camps and remote communities in the Barkly.
“The development of resources and strategies to improve the health and welfare of animals and therefore whole communities is achieved through reducing the ongoing negative social, emotional, cultural and health impacts from too many or sick animals,” she said.
“Improving animal welfare is also integral to breaking disease cycles that are persistent and evidenced in remote communities in the Barkly.”
The Barkly Dog Health Project Poster Exhibition is on at the Tennant Creek Library from today (2 November) until Saturday 17 November.