Public Help Council Wardens In Fight Against Dog Fouling

Better information from members of the public helped East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s dog wardens issue almost double the number of fixed penalty notices for dog fouling in 2016 than in 2015, figures have revealed.

In 2016, the council’s dog wardens issued 28 fixed penalty notices to owners who failed to clean up after their pets, compared to 11 in 2015.

Of those 28, four owners chose to not pay the £75 fixed penalty notice and found themselves in court where their fine was significantly more.

As well as issuing fixed penalty notices for dog fouling, wardens also issued a notice to three owners who took their dogs on a beach, which was part of an exclusion zone while two notices were issued to people who failed to keep their dog on a lead in a designated area.

Following new laws that came into force in April last year requiring all owners to microchip their dogs, the council also successfully prosecuted two owners who failed to keep the details on the chip up to date.

Councillor Shaun Horton, portfolio holder for local partnerships and community involvement at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said he believes the reason for the increase in the number of fixed penalty notices is down to better information given to the dog wardens by members of the public.

He said: “It is disgusting when owners fail to clean up after their dogs and the council will issue fixed penalty notices to those who don’t do this.

“The dog wardens rely on quality information from the public in order to find those responsible for not cleaning up after their pets.

“Some of the information we are now getting from the public is very detailed and contains locations, time of day as well as descriptions of both the owner and the dog – this means the wardens can tailor their patrols in order to catch those in the act as they can’t always be in the right place at the right time.”

For more information or to report incidents of dog fouling go to www.eastriding.gov.uk or telephone the council’s dog wardens on (01482) 396301.