A poster campaign against dog fouling is set to be launched in Argyll and Bute ,after councillors agreed to up the ante against irresponsible owners.
Members of the council’s environment, development and infrastructure committee agreed yesterday that the authority was ‘going round in circles’ with the actions it was taking.
And the leader of the council is to contact various groups across the area, including community councils, to seek their help in addressing the problem.
Robin Currie said everybody who cares about their community had a part to play.
A range of poster designs was supplied to councillors for consideration, including one with a pair of staring eyes and another about the ‘dog poo fairy’, which are used by Keep Britain Tidy.
Cllr Donald Kelly said: “It is down to irresponsible people. We have been round the houses on this and it is not going to make any difference to them.
“The only way around it is naming and shaming to ensure that the police, maybe for a period of time, allocate some police hours to coach people through the correct process.
“Regardless of what we do as a council, we will never get to the bottom of this problem.”
Cllr Currie then said: “It is disgusting – we do not accept humans urinating in public places; why should we put up with dog fouling?”
He then read out a motion, which said: “Every community in every council area in Scotland is affected by the scourge of dog fouling and the challenges of tackling this particular anti-social behaviour.
“Here in Argyll and Bute, we want to do what we can for the people who live in and visit our communities.
“Everyone who cares about their local community has a part to play in tackling dog fouling. This report outlines some of the actions that the council can and does take to play its part.
“We want to build on this and work in partnership with our communities who share our views about the impact of this.”
The committee was then asked to welcome the ongoing work to help reduce dog fouling and approve the proposals to introduce a poster campaign around dog fouling.
Cllr Currie will also write to community councils and other parties in the area seeking their assistance in a partnership approach.
Additional posters will also be circulated to ensure the message goes further across the area.
Cllr Jim Lynch said: “Some of the posters with eyes scare me but we are going round in circles here.
“I think we need to take more of a positive aggressive action on this, and I think it is a good idea to up the ante.”
Cllr Currie’s motion was unanimously agreed by the committee.
Taking more notice of dog s**t than getting roads marked with white lines that could result in somebody having a seriuos accident or even being killed. Where do we get these clowns from?
shite idea! what a (waste) of money. I thought we were going to hear some excrement news on how they plan to eradicate irresponsible dog owners? on registration of your dog and the getting it chipped a DNA sample should be held on a database, that way dog poo could be tested and the owner fined at least the cost of testing. I am sure this would only be viable with the next generation of dogs and could be fully operational within 15 years.