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Northumberland County Council launched their new countywide campaign today to raise awareness about dog fouling and the problems it can cause and let residents know how they can help tackle it.
The ‘don’t stand for it campaign’ launched when Animal Welfare Officers from the Public Protection Service visited Croftway Primary School in Blyth and Berwick Middle School in to speak to pupils during the morning assembly. They discussed the importance of picking up after your dog and being a responsible dog owner.
Later in the day Public Protections Officers were at Ridley Park in Blyth and the Three Fields area of Berwick to hand out free ‘poop’ bags and patrol the area, promoting the message that everyone must pick up after their dog anywhere on publically accessible land in Northumberland 365 days a year.
Residents are asked to watch out for the new posters which will start appearing around the County to promote the campaign from Thursday 19th July. Campaign stickers will also be used to highlight bins in the local community and encourage people to use them for dog mess.
The campaign’s purpose is to raise awareness of this issue among the public and re-enforce key messages including:
- dog fouling is a significant public health problem and blight on our environment
- picking up after your dog, or reporting those that don’t, helps protect Northumberland’s environment for all
- residents that want to help protect our environment can report offenders by contacting the Council on 0845 600 6400 or by emailing ask@northumberland.gov.uk
- a county dog control order makes it an offence to not immediately pick up after your dog has fouled on any publically accessible land anywhere in Northumberland 365 days a year,
- offenders can face an on the spot fine of £75.00 and if prosecuted, a fine of up to £1000 if they fail to pick up after their dog(s).
In 2011/12 officers of the Public Protection Service investigated over 1,200 complaints regarding dog fouling. There were successful enforcement actions against offenders including recent prosecutions. Although the Public Protection Service carried out over 1000 hours of proactive targeted patrolling last year there is a large area to cover and it is recognised that dog fouling continues to be an important issue for some of our communities.
Victoria Barrington, Head of Public Protection said: “I would like to encourage the public to assist us in protecting Northumberland’s environment by reporting incidents of dog fouling they witness to the Council. Working together we can make a positive difference to promote responsible citizenship and ensure the small minority that break the law don’t get away with it”
Councillor Anita Romer, executive for public health and protection said: “This campaign is about raising awareness of dog fouling because it is a real public health problem. I hope the campaign will convince the small minority who still do not pick up after their dogs to start. If not they could be facing on the spot fines of £75.”
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