Dog Fouling Campaign - Keep Britain Tidy
Results of Campaign out - click here for latest press release.
REPORTING DOG FOULING - To report an incident of dog fouling use our On-line Reporting Form or call 01509 634564
Campaign Details
CHARNWOOD Borough Council has joined forces with Keep Britain Tidy to wage war against irresponsible dog owners who do not pick up after their pets.
The council is set to step up patrols in hotspot areas and dish out £80 fines to irresponsible dog owners in a bid to reduce the amount of dog waste left in parks and streets throughout the Borough.
In 2009/10, Charnwood Borough Council received 196 complaints about dog fouling mainly in residential areas and parks.
The campaign aims to not only enforce the law, but to also change behaviour and encourage dog owners to bag and bin their dog’s waste in any litter bin in the Borough.
Charnwood will join the fight against fouling along with Leicester City, Blaby, Harborough, Hinkley & Bosworth, Melton, North West Leicestershire and Oadby & Wigston councils.
The councils, which form the award-winning Leicestershire Enforcement Forum, were selected to champion the campaign by Keep Britain Tidy as one of just 10 regional partnerships out of from 89 applications nationally.
During high visibility patrols by enforcement officers and dog wardens, responsible owners will be rewarded with a ‘Caught Doing Right’ card that can be used to enter a free prize draw. Anyone found to be committing an offence by not bagging their dog’s waste could be hit with an £80 fixed penalty notice.
As part of the local campaign, a new monitoring system will be introduced. Following any complaint about dog fouling in a residential area, a monitoring form will be issued to all households along the street. This will help gather information that could lead to enforcement officers to finding the dog owner responsible for not clearing it up.
Dog mess can be thrown in any general litter bin but a recent Keep Britain Tidy survey shows that four out of five respondents are not aware of this.
Keep Britain Tidy today launches its latest campaign to combat the problem, calling on dog owners to bag and bin their dog’s mess as ‘there’s no such thing as the dog poo fairy’!
Dog fouling is not only unpleasant, but can be dangerous. Fronting the national Keep Britain Tidy campaign is two-year-old Amiee Langdon, who has tragically lost partial sight in her left eye after falling in dog mess last month. Amiee’s mum, Suzanne, is calling on all dog owners to clean up after their pets to prevent anyone else suffering the same fate as Amiee.
Is Your Pooch a Popstar?
The Dog Poo Fairy is sprinkling her magic over dogs across the country to turn them into pooch popstars as a reward to their owners who pick up their poo! If you think your dog could be the next Alexandra Barke, Paulo Muttini or Collie Parton, Click here to see them sing! All you need to do is upload a picture of your furry friend and the Dog Poo Fairy will do the rest! You can then share the video of your popstar pooch with your firends or even upload it to your Twitter and Facebook page.
Keep Britain Tidy Campaign
The Dog Poo Fairy is leading Keep Britain Tidy's campaign to encourage dog owners to clean up after their pooch. Click here to visit the Keep Britain Tidy website to find out more about her plight to clear up our streets of dog poo!
Frequently Asked Questions (10)
The Council has made an order The Fouling of Land by Dogs(Borough of Charnwood) Order 2007 which makes it an offence not to clean up after your dog has fouled on public land.
Provided that you clear up and dispose of the poop scoop in a proper manner you will have no problems.
Anyone who is found not clearing up immediately after the dog has fouled the footpath,verge,park,open space etc may be asked to pay a fixed penalty of £80.00,with a discounted sum of £50.00 if paid within 10 days,or risk the alternative of proceedings in a Magistrates' Court, where the maximum penalty on conviction is £1,000
The most important thing you can do is to worm your cats and dogs regularly. Both puppies and kittens may be born with roundworm 'Toxocara' which is passed to them through their mother's milk. It is therefore vital that all pups and kittens are wormed regularly, according to the advice of your vet. In urban areas adult dogs should be wormed every 3 months and in rural areas, every 6 months.
Most dog owners have house-trained pets but this is only the beginning. Your dog can be trained to relieve itself on command. More information on toilet training your pet is available from the Council Offices. Close control and supervision of your dog when you take it for a walk means you will be aware of when he fouls and therefore able to clean it up.
Apart from being an unpleasant nuisance if you step in it, fall in it, cycle through it, or wheel your wheelchair through it, dog mess can also be a health hazard. Both dog and cat faeces can contain the eggs of the roundworm 'Toxocara'. These eggs can survive in the soil for several years. If they are ingested or inhaled by humans, they may cause eye, liver, brain and respiratory problems such as asthma, hepatitis and epilepsy. Children playing in fouled recreation areas are most at risk. Dog waste is also a potential health risk to farmers' livestock if you allow your dog to foul in their fields.
As a member of the public, you can provide important information to the Dog Warden to assist in bringing about prosecution. If you have any information relating to someone failing to clean up after their dog, then you should contact the Dog Control Service on 01509 634628.
Every responsible dog owner should train their dog to go at home. When you take your dog out for a walk you should always carry a poop scoop just in case your dog should get caught short!
'Poop scoops' are freely available from the Council and there are many commercial 'poop scoops' available from pet shops. However, a plastic bag, eg, a supermarket carrier or nappy disposal bag used in conjunction with something absorbent such as kitchen towel or newspaper will do the job admirably at virtually no cost.
This is no defence. Cleaning up after your dog is an essential part of your responsibility as a dog owner.
If you do not wish to carry them home for disposal then it is perfectly permissible for a properly sealed bag or scoop to be deposited in a normal street litter bin. In some areas special Dog Waste bins have been provided as well.
The Council is fully committed to education in conjunction with enforcement. The Dog Warden gives talks and presentations at local schools in an attempt to educate the dog owners of the future. His wish is to change attitudes through education and eradicate any embarrassment people seem to feel in using a poop scoop. It is his hope that as people start to take responsibility and clean up after their dogs so it will become an embarrassment for those who continue not to use a scoop.
Last updated: Mon 25th October, 2010 @ 15:17
