“Unbelievable” amount of dog poo in two Deeside parks as schools join forces to raise awareness

Children from two Deeside schools joined forces with Flintshire Council last week to help raise awareness around dog fouling on two local parks.

In cooperation with Keep Wales Tidy, and to reflect their ‘Bin it, bag it campaign’, students from Ysgol Bryn Deva and Golftyn School took part in a trial event to encourage dog owners to pick up after their pooches.

The keen-eyed kids helped by council environmental enforcement officers, walked through Central Park and Golftyn Park in Connah’s Quay pointing out dog poo they saw, adults then marked the areas with a flag.

The youngsters helped share the ‘bag it, bin it’ and ‘leave only paw prints’ message by spraying biodegradable, washable chalk spray on the pavements, leading dog owners to the appropriate bins.

The school children heard from Groundwork North Wales and local residents about the issues of dog fouling and how it impacts their lives and the environment.

Local dog owners were handed free dog poo bags and new ‘glow in the dark’ signs were put up to highlight bins in the dark winter hours.

Flintshire Council said: “An unbelievable amount of flagged dog poo was later cleared by the Council.”

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transportation, Councillor Dave Hughes, said:

“Dog fouling continues to be a problem in Flintshire.”

“Although many of our dog owners do pick up after their dogs, we are appealing to the small minority of irresponsible dog owners to keep public areas and pavements free from dog mess.”

Jemma Bere, Keep Wales Tidy Policy and Research Manager said:

“Although an estimated nine out of ten dog owners pick up after their pets, dog poo remains a persistent issue in communities across the country.”

“Dog poo can pose a risk to human health but also to a number of other animals too.”

“To promote positive and responsible dog ownership to the minority of dog owners who don’t pick up after their pets, bright pink paw prints are being painted across Wales to easily guide people to the nearest bin.”

“These eye-catching paw prints are accompanied by bin stickers and signage to make it as easy as possible for people to find a dog poo bin and do the right thing.”

Ene from Golftyn School said: “To the people who don’t pick up their dog poop, please pick it up because if YOU stepped into it, YOU wouldn’t like it.”

Lexie from Golftyn School said: “There was lots of dog poo in Golftyn Park, in fact someone let their dog poo whilst we were there! It’s disgusting and horrid to play there with all that mess.”