Dog poo on our paths: 'Those that don’t clean it up tend to be brazen about it'
Ciara Barrett, who is visually impaired, out walking near her home in Carrigaline, Co. Cork. Picture: David Creedon
For most of us, dealing with dog excrement is a rare and, at most, irritating inconvenience. Many of us will only come up against the issue when we have children and steer our buggies into a pooey pile while walking along the strand or in the street but for certain cohorts, dog fouling can cause untold problems. Problems that are not being dealt with.
Part of a recent report put together by the National Council for the Blind (NCBI) Ireland for their Clear Our Paths campaign showed that just eighty-two dog fouling fines were handed out by local councils in Ireland throughout 2022.
Information, provided by the local councils at the request of NCBI, showed that eighteen councils from around the country handed out no dog fouling fines at all over the course of last year. While Kerry County Council had the highest number of fines with twenty-seven and two convictions related to those fines, neighbouring Cork handed out just one.
For 51-year-old Ciara Barrett, these figures come as little surprise. The mother of three was diagnosed with retinol cancer some six years ago. Though the cancer itself was dealt with successfully, the illness triggered an autoimmune response that attacked the cones and rods of her eyes and rendered her blind.
“Before, I’d have said to myself it was a disgrace and I’d have steered the buggy around it or walked around it but now I can’t see it and it’s a real and regular problem,” says the native of Carrigaline. “My cane goes in it or my foot goes in it. Most of the time I’m with someone and they help but when I’m on my own and I can’t see it, I don’t know if it has even happened. And it becomes a big deal trying to clean your cane or it’s on your foot and you drag it into the house and before you know it, it’s everywhere.” Ciara exercises six days a week at a local park where she says there are often problems with dogs, their owners and dog fouling.
“We have a warden but his hands are tied because they have to either see the dogs in the middle of the act or have a picture of the same and it not being picked up so they can issue fines,” she says.
“There are not enough dog wardens and when they are out there, they are too nice. There aren’t enough dog bins either and the councils are removing a lot of regular bins. Often you’ll get people bagging the poo but not having anywhere to put it and they leave it on the ground.”
According to the law, it is an offence not to clean up after your dog if it fouls in a public place. Failure to clean up your dog’s waste can lead to a €150 on-the-spot fine or on summary conviction to a fine of up to €4,000. While in theory, the law looks like a good clear rap on the knuckles, in practice, it is something of a joke. And that is down to the fact that it is very rarely policed. Three people can issue fines for dog fouling - dog wardens, litter wardens and gardaí.
There are just seventy dog wardens employed in Ireland. Fifty of those work full-time and another twenty are employed part-time. Given that those wardens look after almost two hundred thousand licensed dogs and often deal with situations that might be viewed as more urgent, it is hardly surprising that so few fines were issued.
As well as the mess and inconvenience, coming into contact with dog excrement can cause serious health problems. The main danger to health in dog faeces is the presence of the eggs of Toxocara Canis, or dog roundworm. Once in the human body, the larvae of these eggs can cause extreme fever and illness and severe damage to organs. Contact with infected dog faeces can also cause serious eye infections and in some cases loss of sight, with children especially at risk.
“It’s a very real problem,” says wheelchair user and Public Engagement Manager at the Irish Wheelchair Association, John Fulham. “It happens a lot and for someone like me, a wheelchair user, I have to be on my guard all the time. Even in my own apartment complex, I recently had to put a post into the WhatsApp group asking people to pick up after their dog because people are just leaving it there.” According to John, the problem gets worse in Autumn when the excrement gets covered with leaves.
“People just think ‘ah sure it'll be fine, it’ll biodegrade’ but the problems happen long before it gets to that point,” says the father of one. “And it has gotten worse. It had improved for a while but people have become complacent again. When someone like me rolls over it, it gets everywhere. It gets on your hands, on your clothes and there is the potential for infection.”
John believes that awareness is key to helping people understand the consequences of leaving their dog’s excrement unattended but he acknowledges that no matter how hard we try to educate and inform, there will always be people who simply just don’t care.
“Those that don’t clean it up tend to be brazen about it,” he says, “and sometimes when I’ve said it, they fight back and that then becomes a problem for me.”
It is these people that fines and laws need to target and until those become more robust, the problem is sure to continue.
“The problem here is that you can have all the laws you want, whether it’s dog poo or speeding, but without implementation, it’s useless,” says John. “Unless you have people being punished for transgressions then I think it undermines the law.” “More bins, more fines,” says Ciara Barrett. “Wardens have very little power and people are increasingly aggressive towards them. That needs to change somehow.”
Earlier this year, Robert Ménard, mayor of Béziers, France, brought in a local law requiring dog owners to submit their dogs’ DNA and carry passports. If you are caught with your dog but without a passport, you are fined automatically. Poo-la-la.
In 2013 authorities in the Spanish village of Brunete started mailing dog poo back to the pet owners who left it behind. This was done with the help of twenty volunteers who were on the lookout for irresponsible pet owners to strike up a conversation with. Their aim was to discover the name of the offending dog which was then identified and matched to its owner from the registered pet database held in the town hall. After 147 special deliveries had been mailed to negligent pet owners, the reported dog littering decreased by 70%.
In the UK, councils can prosecute if people are happy to provide a witness statement against anyone seen not picking up their dog's mess. Some years ago councils in Gloucestershire and Dorset in the UK, opted to spray paint the piles of dog poop in bright colours to highlight the mess it makes on the streets. We are not sure how effective it was but at least it looked a little prettier.
In 2011, officials in New Taipei City in Taiwan started offering a lottery ticket for every bag of poo citizens handed in. Officials collected 14,500 bags from 4,000 people, and the scheme reportedly halved the amount of excrement in the city. A woman in her 50s won the top prize - a beautiful gold ingot.
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