Dog poo rant: Councillor asks public for ‘hard evidence’ so that dog owners can be prosecuted

Katy Jenkins, local democracy reporter

A Solva councillor has called for the public to provide “hard evidence” so that those who do not pick up after their dogs can be prosecuted.

Councillor Mark Carter took to Facebook at the weekend to highlight a “serious problem very serious problem that is especially bad in Solva and I am struggling to sort”.

“This problem is entirely fixable by the public by changing their behaviour,” he said.

“That is dog fouling and in particular dog owners allowing their dog to foul the Solva AFC football pitch where the juniors and seniors train and play matches.”

Cllr Carter added that football players – including juniors and seniors – were regularly getting covered in dog faeces despite coaches spending time trying to clean up the area when they could be playing sport.

“Solva is a fantastic and very desirable village to live in, yet a very very small minority of residents seem just not to care where there dogs make a mess and appear content to allow the children of the village to play football on a pitch riddled with dog faeces, possibly parasite worms and toxocara,” added Cllr Carter.

‘Misery’

He adds that other areas in the village are being misused by dog walkers who are either deliberately not picking up after their dogs or letting them roam and foul without properly monitoring them.

“What needs to happen is that the inconsiderate dog owners need catching and prosecuting, so as County Councillor, I appeal to the residents of Solva to provide me with hard evidence as to who is responsible for this and if such information is forthcoming, I promise residents that I will do everything I can to get a prosecution / fixed penalty,” he said.

“Finally, I just wish to say there are very likely only a couple of offenders, possibly even one dog owner responsible but you are causing misery to the vast majority of residents. I will be standing again for election for Solva ward next May, hopefully so I can continue dealing with issues such as this.

“However if you are responsible for this dog fouling on the village football pitch, and you are happy with what you are doing, PLEASE DO NOT VOTE FOR ME, I do not want your support whilst you think this dog fouling is acceptable,” he said.