Silsden campaign launched to stop dog dirt (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Silsden campaign launched to stop dog dirt

9:00am Thursday 24th January 2013 in News By Chris Young, T&A Reporter

The campaigners

Children and parents in Silsden are taking a stand against inconsiderate dog owners by starting an anti-dog dirt campaign tomorrow.

Sick of dogs leaving a mess on roads near the town’s primary schools, they will adorn the area with posters designed by children, with the aim of shaming inconsiderate owners into cleaning up their mess.

The situation is so bad at times that children take turns being “poo watchers,” walking in front of friends.

It was organised by a group of mums and childminders, and children have been busy this week creating the posters in preparation for “poo poster Friday.” Before school they will put the posters up around notorious dog dirt black spots.

Childminder Helen King, 62, said: “It has got very bad in Silsden. We can’t think of any other way of solving the problem – we’ll see if we can shame them.”

Mrs King feels the problem is exacerbated when it happens so close to schools, in this case Hothfield and Aire View Schools.

She said: “They are treading it into schools, and then it isn’t healthy when they might be getting down on their hands and knees to play. Parents are sick of scraping it off their children’s shoes.

“Children take turns being poo watchers who shout to the rest of the children to watch out for the poo. Hopefully the posters will let people know we are not going to put up with this any more.”

Children are taking carrier bags with them to hand to walkers and will offer vouchers for dog food, donated by pet store Dogsbody and Friends, for those seen kindly picking up after their pets.

Council area co-ordinator Noreen Akhtar said: “We have increased enforcement patrols. We are doing everything we can, but we welcome the community doing something for themselves.

“People will know the dog owners allowing this to happen, and we hope they tell them to stop.

“We need information from the community about who is doing this. The only alternative is to have wardens out watching the streets 24 hours a day.

“People need to realise having a dog isnt just about it in the house looking pretty, you have to take it out and clean up after it too.”

e-mail: chris.young @telegraphandargus.co.uk