Scoop it Up: Council cracks down on dog fouling

Irresponsible dog owners are being asked to sit up and take notice after two Leeds people fell foul of the law.

Scoop It Up!

Following a clamp down on people who don’t pick up after their pets, a man from Bramley and a woman from Cross Green were found guilty of various offences last Friday.

Sonny Allanson of Henley Road was ordered to pay a £200 fine plus £494 in costs and an additional £15 victim surcharge at Leeds Magistrates Court for failing to clean up after his dog. Lindsey Cunningham of Cross Green Avenue was facing prosecution for two different offences. She was fined £600 for ignoring legal notices to clean up her dog-filth filled garden and also fined £200 for failing to pay a fixed penalty notice after allowing her dog to foul in the street. She was ordered to pay a total of £1308.84 in costs for both cases as well as a £15 surcharge.

The prosecutions come as South Leeds Life campaigns to encourage people to scoop up after their pets with our Scoop It Up Campaign.

Councillor Mark Dobson, executive member for environmental services said:

“There’s no excuse for not picking up after your dog. People have been given fair warning that it’s irresponsible and illegal to not clear up after your dog, not to mention unpleasant, so we will prosecute. We’re not standing for this type of behaviour as we don’t want you to stand in it.”

If you know of someone who persistently fails to pick up after their pet, report them on 0113 222 4407 or email environmental.action@leeds.gov.uk. You can also report your problems to the council via the Fix My Street website.

You can also help map problem areas by adding to our collaborative dog poo map:

[googlemaps http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=209848322150562424961.0004bdb6b8e460a311a89&msa=0&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=m&source=embed&ll=53.76739,-1.548611&spn=0.016653,0.00766&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

Meanwhile, on the Friends of Middleton Park facebook page, resident Patricia Horner posted:

“Can I just say…had a lovely walk around Middleton Park this morning with my friend Denise  and her dog Molly. Molly did a poo and Denise picked it up but had to carry the bag for about 30 mins as we could not find a bin….please, please can we have more bins … thank you.”