A quarter of dog owners don’t pick up after their pets

Around one in four of dog walkers confess they don’t pick up their pet’s faeces, www.animalfriends.co.uk claims. The number was especially high in Gloucester with half of owners admitting that they don’t bother clearing up their mutt’s mess. Despite people being more likely to pick up after their dog, Wrexham has been named the dog poo capital of the UK as residents estimate they see an average of six different dog messes each day. The new data from www.animalfriends.co.uk found that owners in Leeds are picking up the most fines for allowing their dog to foul, as over a quarter admitted they had been hit with a charge. Leeds was followed by Coventry (25 percent) and Wrexham (20 percent). The average fine in Britain, for retreating after excreting is currently £262. But one in ten of the owners - that’s 850,000 people - are at risk of a hefty new fine that’s being rolled out across the nation. The new law, launched in Kent, means that dog walkers caught without a supply of more than two poo bags, face an on-the-spot fine of £80 – rising as high as £1,000 if they refuse to pay up. Given that the average dog may have a bowel movement three times daily, that’s around 25.5 million messes across the nation each day. The poll showed that the rules are welcomed by over half (57 percent) of people, with one in five faltering in faeces at least once in the last year. Under current legislation regarding dog fouling in public places, 8 percent of respondents said they had so far avoided fees. However, some owners are trying their best to clean up after their pet, with the average person surveyed remembering to carry three poo bags per walk. A quarter (24 percent) of people have even cleaned up after someone else’s animal with the average person spotting four abandoned poos in a day. Ribble Valley Borough Council says it receives over 200 complaints about dog-fouling and spends £30,000 disposing of it each year, while there were 1,398 complaints to Sheffield Council about dog mess in 2016-2017. Westley Pearson of Animalfriends.co.uk, said: “One of the major responsibilities of owning a pet is cleaning up after them. Dog dirt can be a health hazard if it’s not disposed of correctly, as it can lead to toxocariasis in humans. “Not only that, if you step in it, chances are you will transfer it into public buildings, running the risk of spreading diseases, such as Parvo.”