Koori Mail - The Voice of Indigenous Australia
by Scott Thomas

The Yugul Mangi Community Council in Arnhem Land has been awarded a $10,000 grant to provide support for the large population of dogs in the towns of Ngukurr, Minyerri and Urapunga.

In an awards ceremony held in Sydney, animal rights organisation Voiceless awarded grants to applicants who could demonstrate plans for an animal protection program.

Voiceless co-founder and director Ondine Sherman said the judges, including actor Hugo Weaving, thought the welfare of dogs in small Northern Territory communities made Yugul Mangi Council a worthy grant recipient.

"We were really impressed by their project," said Ms Sherman.

"It was looking to change the community's attitude ... and do something for the dogs living amongst them."

Yugul Mangi Council chief executive Andrei Koeppen was happy to receive the grant for its potential to provide welfare for the dogs in his community.

"We're really pleased to have this opportunity," he said.

"This enables us to do something that's outside the realm of State and Commonwealth funding."

Mr Koeppen said dogs played an important role in the lives of community members but risked passing on health problems to their owners.

"Improve the quality of the way dogs are handled and you improve the quality of life here," he said.

Ms Sherman said the grant money would help the council produce an educational DVD to teach community members on the proper treatment of their dogs.

"The community responds well to that kind of media ... it can have more of a long-lasting effect," she said.

Mr Koeppen said the DVD had the potential to educate a large audience.

"The DVD will suit our needs but we believe it will suit the needs of all Arnhem Land," he said.

The Voiceless grants program, in its second year, is the only one of its kind in Australia and gave $240,000 last year to animal rights projects across Australia.

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