Viewpoint: Pick up after your Pooch

Dog fouling is not a problem in County Kildare, writes Brian Byrne. Or that seems to be the case, as not one fine for the offence was issued by the Council in 2016, the last year for which figures are available.

But anyone walking down the street in Kilcullen will be all too aware that it is, well, a really shitty problem. And, at least on visual evidence, is getting worse.

It's why myself, and others, walk a lot of the time with our eyes down. It's why many mothers have to scrub down the wheels of their children's buggies before they can bring them back inside their homes.

It's why the GAA is seriously concerned about the amount of dog fouling on its property, especially on the training pitch. Other clubs with grounds where dog owners feel they can let their pooches run free have the same problem.

There's regular and noxious evidence of uncaring dog owners' practices in the environs of our schools, on the parks and nature trail. Pretty well everywhere, really.

And even where people do get down to bagging their dogshit, an extraordinary number then seem to feel that throwing the bag into the ditch is a civic way of dealing with it.

In recent years the pooch poo problem has escalated as a topic of discussion in Kilcullen Tidy Towns. To the point where a month long initiative by Kilcullen Community Action is planned for March, to make dog owners aware of their responsibilities.

And Kildare County Council is to provide three more bins in town, which will increase the number of places where dog walkers can dispose of their pets' excrement.

Trouble is, only already responsible dog owners are likely to bother. The others? They don't care. They know they are very unlikely to get caught. Even if they are found and fined, they can probably ignore the summons. Of almost 3,000 fines issued nationally in 2016, only 800 were paid, 138 on conviction in the District Court.

A UK survey of dog walkers in 2010 found a third of those asked didn't think they should have to pick up after their dogs. That's a scary, but not surprising rate of uncaring, and there's probably at least the same level here.

Well, they should care, even if it's only for fear of what their practices are potentially doing to their own health, or that of their children. Or even their own pets.

A single gram of dog waste can contain 23 million faecal coliform bacteria. These can cause cramps, diarrhoea, intestinal illness, and serious kidney disorders in humans.

The waste is a carrier of a range of worms infestations, including tapeworms, and diseases like Salmonellosis, Cryptosporidiosis and Campylobacteriosis. They sound bad. They are bad. They can even kill vulnerable people. Including children, who are more likely to be playing in places where dogs have done their business.

Other diseases from the same source include canine Parvo and Giardiasis. Which can be fatal to the pets themselves. So, if you don't care about children, maybe you'll think twice about not picking up for your dog's sake?

It probably won't make any difference passing on all that info. And the way the legal route is set up, threatening fines won't work either. The Litter Pollution Act introduced in 1997 requires a litter warden to actually see the offence, or that a person make a complaint to the District Court, where they will be required to give evidence.

Since one local person recently noted on Facebook how she was told to go 'F—' herself when she offered one of her own bags to another dog walker whose pooch had pooed without pickup, any civilian taking the Courts step would be leaving themselves open to possibly worse abuse, especially in a small town.

Here are some random numbers, as food for thought, not trying to come to any conclusion.

There were about 4,800 dog licenses issued in County Kildare in 2017. The €96,000 raised goes towards Dog Control activities, in the case of Kildare contracting the ISPCA to provide two Dog Wardens.

Kildare County Council spends over €1m a year on Litter Wardens and Litter Control. Dog fouling comes under the responsibility of the county's Litter Wardens, but in the Council's budget the fines as income from this area is not identified. Well, probably because there haven't been any such fines.

Fines can be on-the-spot €150 or up to €3,000 on a Court conviction. Kildare County Council issued 408 litter fines in 2018. A dozen were successfully prosecuted in court. On average, just 800 littering reports are received every year by Kildare County Council.

The Council will spend more than €2.2m a year in street cleaning in 2019. If the shitty state of Kilcullen's footpaths are anything to go by, we're not getting much of that.

This is how Cashel in Co Tipperary is trying to deal with the problem.

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