Earby campaigner’s bid to shame pet owners over dog fouling (From Craven Herald)

Earby campaigner’s bid to shame pet owners over dog fouling

11:00am Friday 18th January 2013 in News By Daryl Ames, Reporter

An Earby man fed up with dog mess is recording CCTV footage of dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets.

Bob Brown, of Red Lion Street, is hoping the footage will make people think twice when they do not pick up dog mess near the junction of Cowgarth Lane and Gaylands Lane.

“It’s a dog walking route,” said Mr Brown. “I’m not anti-dog, I’ve always had dogs myself. I’m just anti-owners who have no respect for other people and their property.

“A lot of people think ‘it’s dog muck, it’s not going to make any difference’. They just don’t want to pick it up. It’s absolutely disgusting. There are enough signs about and there’s a dog bin only 50 yards away.”

After erecting cameras near the junction a year ago, Mr Brown is now taking stills of the footage and attaching them to a nearby post with a warning to violators to pick up after their dogs or risk having their images sent to Pendle Council with a view to prosecution.

“There’s no reason for people not to pick up,” said Mr Brown. “It’s disrespectful and I will see them in court if need be.

“I put the stills up now and again and I’ve given them to people I’ve had words with. It just reminds people that they’re being monitored.

“It seems to have had a limited degree of success, but the thing is it just seems to have moved the problem further afield.”

Mr Brown said Earby had had a problem with dog mess throughout the almost 30 years he had lived in the town.

“I used to live on Rostle Top Road and I had the same problem there. It’s a problem throughout Earby,” he said.

“I sometimes go down to the White Lion pub, but on my way back I always walk down the middle of the road because I don’t want to be tracking dog muck into my house.”

Mr Brown’s campaign stems from an incident that happened three years ago.

Before leaving for a holiday in Crete, he was strimming grass along the lane when dog muck splattered part of his leg affected by eczema.

It later became infected and he was laid up in bed, unable to walk, throughout his two-week holiday on the Greek island.

Mr Brown said he had no proof that the infection was caused by dog mess, but he suspected it was a possibility.