Thursday, May 14, 2015

Back from our trip: IN THE NEWS: Dublin authorities join forces to combat dog fouling

We just returned from 10 days away in Ireland (our big vacation of the year), and we thought this was an interesting story in the news there. It seems that a lot of dog owners in England and Ireland don't pick up their dogs' poop (and it really ticks us off when they don't do it here, either). SO, 2 towns in the London Suburbs are taking DNA samples from all dogs in the towns and then will TEST the dog poo found on the sidewalks. When they get a match, the owners will get hefty fines.   ** Although it'll be costly, the only way you get can careless people to do the right thing is to hit them in the wallet.**
  - The Trip blog will come in a day or two, but there's a lot to assemble, so in the meantime, we'll share articles from Ireland we thought were interesting.
Rob and Tom 

Here's the story from the paper we read there yesterday:

Dublin authorities join forces to combat dog fouling

Dubliners are being urged to report dirty dog owners 

 A Bag the Poo sign  on Dublin’s North Strand. Photograph: David Sleator/The Irish Times A Bag the Poo sign on Dublin’s North Strand. Photograph: David Sleator/The Irish Times
Dubliners are being urged to report dog owners who fail to pick up after their pets, to local authorities.
A new hotline number 1800 251 500 has been established by the four Dublin councils to handle reports of dog fouling on streets, parks and suburban roads throughout the city and county.
Currently there are in excess of 30,000 dogs living in Dublin, with 30,745 dog licences issued by the four Dublin local authorities in 2012 and 28,122 issued to date in 2013.
“Dog fouling remains a very serious issue and one of the top gripes for Dubliners. As a result, Dublin’s four local authorities are coming together to launch a new initiative aimed at encouraging all dog owners to clean up after their dog,” campaign spokeswoman, Therese Langan of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said.
In addition to the hotline the councils will undertake a series of marketing and promotional initiatives to raise awareness of the environmental and health issues around dog fouling, as well as events for dog owners taking place in parks around Dublin city and county.
“Dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs are creating a serious environmental and public health issue for everyone else. If not cleaned up and disposed of appropriately, dog faeces can cause serious medical problems such as Toxocara, leading to sight loss in children,” Ms Langan said.
The campaign funded by the Dublin Regional Authority, follows a recent Milward Brown survey for Dublin City Council which found 40 per cent of dog owners admitting to not cleaning up after their pets and one in 10 having never or rarely removed dog foul from the city streets. It also found nine out of 10 people thought dog owners should pick up their animal’s waste, with just one in 10 saying they shouldn’t have to.
“When dog owners are walking their dog in the city, in the suburbs or in one of the city’s many parks, there really is no excuse — always scoop the poop. Whether it’s with a plastic bag or a pooper scooper, safely disposing of dog litter is not only showing respect for your neighbours, it’s the law,” she said. 

Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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