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Mumsnet campaigns

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Original poster

Time for a campaign to clear British streets of DOG POO?

25 replies

yellowcircle · 28/02/2010 19:21

I think that we should have a campaign to try and stop our streets being covered in dog poo - rather like the "Keep Britain Tidy" campaign.

I doubt there is a single person on Mumsnet who hasn't stepped in dog poo / pushed a buggy through dog poo / had small children get dog poo on them.

In addition to the fact that it is absolutely disgusting, it can also be really dangerous and from time to time, we see news articles about children who have lost their sight due to an infection that they picked up from dog poo. I searched old threads and found a mumsnetter who has a nephew who is blind in one eye as a result of infected dog poo. I understand that this is rare, but it is still very sad for that child and could have been prevented if people disposed of poo safely.

There was a thread earlier this week where the OP had walked to her local school and on the way, her sons had counted 18 dog poos - I think this is a really sad reflection of our society and something that we should rectify.

18 dog poos on school run

Plenty of people throw away items that have got dog poo on - shoes mainly. This is such an unnecessary waste, but I have had to do this on one occasion as I couldn't get all the poo off satisfactorily.

I also have a point to make about the disposal of dog poo. Putting it in plastic bags is surely very bad for the environment and hinders the process of the dog poo degrading. Why are dog poo bags not made of a material which can degrade (given the right conditions)?

Does anyone agree with me?

OP posts:

babiesbabies · 28/02/2010 19:22

I agree. This winter has been a nightmare.

MillieMummy · 28/02/2010 19:29

Ooo - timing of this is strange; a friend and I were having the same conversation about this today. Our kids have a 10 min walk to school and there are always at least 3 poo obsticles on the way .

I'm sure some are deliberate ie right in the middle of the pavement with no effort made to either clear it up or at least get the dog to do it in the gutter.

OK - will admit I am not a dog lover; keep a dog if you want but FFS why should we all have to put up with it.

I support this as the next big campaign.

Flame · 28/02/2010 19:31

this last 12 months things are much worse round here. My mate moved to Portsmouth and it was double our amount.

It is appalling.

GochaGocha · 28/02/2010 19:35

Hear hear. It's awful.

I finally stopped taking my kids to our local park because it is a giant dog toilet. The council tried to tighten up the rules about dogs off leads ( = doing their business out of sight so owner can avoid cleaning up). Dog owners in the area mounted a huge campaign against any rules and council backed off.

But that is the people who actually take their dogs to the park. The pavements around here are covered in it as well. They do it late in the evening, when they know no-one will catch them, so it's especially bad in the morning when we walk to school.

itsmeitsmeolord · 28/02/2010 19:40

I would willingly sign up to this. I am utterly hacked off with having to hose the bike down every other day because of the unavoidable piles of shite on the cycle paths here.
We have plenty of dog poo bins here and yet we still find it everywhere. Riding to the local shop this weekend we saw bags of poo hanging in the trees by the side of the pathway, wtf is that all about.
Even worse, when we stopped at the park someone had smeared dog poo down the slide nd on the swing chains.

nickytwotimes · 28/02/2010 19:41

Oh, I agree.

Unfortunately, I don't know how successful it would be as the kind of people who let their dogs poo and leave it really don't give a toss about others anyway.

Litter is still a huge problem - did the Keep Britain Tidy campaign help at all? Genuine question.

redrobin · 28/02/2010 19:41

I could not agree more. How can we call ourselves a civilised society when there is shit all over the streets? I live in a beautiful little town, with loads of parks and wild spaces for the children to play in - but they can't because of the filth everywhere. i feel really angry that the freedom my children should have, to run without looking at their feet, to be able to roll on the grass, are being denied because of dog owners who can't be bothered to pick up their revolting muck.

come on mumsnet...we can do it!

redrobin · 28/02/2010 19:41

come on mumsnet...we can do it!

Heathcliffscathy · 28/02/2010 19:43

god yes yes yes. this should be policed and enforced far more rigorously, the fines should be massive and if you get caught 3 times your dog should be taken away from you.

there is NO EXCUSE.

JeMeSouviens · 28/02/2010 19:44

Yes please, and when you've won the war in Britain, can you expand it to Canada please?

We have a walkway/green space at the back of our house. We were practising golf shots there yesterday, and within about 30m there would have been more than a dozen dog poo deposits. We had to keep a close eye on DS. It's revolting!

TheChewyToffeeMum · 28/02/2010 19:47

Yes - major bug bear at the moment. Is it worse in the wintery weather?

Heathcliffscathy · 28/02/2010 19:50

justine and carrie, please please can we do this...we could do this and it would transform our streets! we could draw up a code for councils to adopt...

FreakoidOrganisoid · 28/02/2010 19:52

Yep it is disgusting, footpaths and pavements round here are covered in it as are the parks.

Was in town on Friday and some bloke walked down the high street with his dog leaving a trail of dog shit behind them

redrobin · 28/02/2010 19:52

...and we could all go out at midnight and spray all the poos with gold paint...the streets WOULD be paved with gold in this town that's for sure! What a great PR stunt that would be.

PussinJimmyChoos · 28/02/2010 20:01

I would definitely support this. I am profoundly deaf and lip read so my eye sight is so so precious to me, so although its rare, thought of infected dog sh*t fills me with dread.

Took DS to Syria a few years back and it was lovely being able to walk/run in the local parks without having to watch out for dog shit or sniff shoes before leaving and so nice to have shit free pavements..mind you, that isn't because they police the dog owners, but because dogs are generally not liked over there

MajorMajor · 28/02/2010 20:17

Totally agree. But how do you stop it? The people who let their dogs shit everywhere are not going to take any notice of a campaign. The only way to stop them doing it would be to catch them and punish them in some way.

Original poster

yellowcircle · 28/02/2010 20:17

Thanks for the replies everyone - keep them coming!

To answer some points:

I think the situation can be worse in the autumn/winter as leaves have fallen and they can hide poo. I also think that there would be fewer people around (due to the cold) so some people think that if nobody is around, they won't bother to clean up.

I am unsure of the impact of the "Keep Britain Tidy" campaign - I would guess that it did cut down on litter, but a minority continued to drop litter.

The dog poo problem affects everybody - all parts of Britain - all types of area. I think it was a really good point made above about people not using their local parks/open spaces solely because of dog poo. I don't use my local park for this reason. I have actually seen a person with a dog go into a gated play area (where dogs are not allowed), let the dog off the lead within this safe fenced area and sit down and eat their sandwich!

For the record, I would like to add that I am a dog lover and I grew up with a dog (she still lives with my mum). I just think certain dog owners should be more responsible. Although it shouldn't matter whether people are dog lovers or not - nobody wants poo on their shoes!

OP posts:

ooosabeauta · 28/02/2010 21:14

I totally agree with the idea of a campaign on this. It seriously affects the quality of our lives as I spend every day dodging the stuff, and do not allow my toddler to practise walking outside as often as I would like because of the horrible poo all over our pavements. The situation was even worse in the summer as there had been no rain to wash the stuff away, so it was just mounting up and stinking. Then it was horrific, now it is just bloody terrible. Looking into this a couple of weeks ago I found that there is meant to be a city 'dog warden' who deals with issues of this nature. I am gearing up to approaching the council on this, but fear that I will feel worse about it when I hear that there is nothing that will be done...

Original poster

yellowcircle · 01/03/2010 08:55

Bump...in view of the state of the streets I saw this morning!

OP posts:

sarah293 · 01/03/2010 09:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

gorionine · 01/03/2010 09:29

I am very anti dog poo (not anti dog). I have no idea how to implement a "dog poo ban" though. If some dog owners still have not realised that it is disgusting (even though they seem to walk on the very same pavement as the rest of us) there is very little hope IMHO.

Original poster

yellowcircle · 01/03/2010 09:43

I think a campaign would rely on the good nature of the majority of people, with the minority still offending.

Our council only puts dog poo bins in open spaces and I think that perhaps more are needed in streets - near me, there is a wide street with wide grass verges either side - it is covered in dog poo but doesn't qualify for a dog poo bin.

Councils increasing the number of dog wardens and sending them out to patrol (and fine) would help, but of course, it's expensive and we all pay loads of council tax as it is.

My mum says that councils used to clear up dog poo, but then the responsibility shifted to owners. Since plenty of owners don't do it and now the council don't either, the streets are disgusting.

OP posts:

Original poster

yellowcircle · 01/03/2010 16:12

bump!

OP posts:

redrobin · 02/03/2010 15:52

bump

sayanything · 02/03/2010 16:01

Oh could we expand it to Belgium please? It't utterly digusting here, there's dog poo absolutely everywhere.

The other day I left my building to go to work only to find a woman watching her dog pooing against our front door . I asked her to pick it up, she shrugged, then I asked her if she thought it would be ok if I emptied my cat's litter tray all over her front door. She shrugged again. Drives me insane.

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