I wish I understood people

I take my dog to Twywell Hills and Dales, where both he and I have friends we can walk with. Some early mornings when the sky is clear at about 7 a.m. there seems no nicer place to be. But there has been, over the last several months, a growing problem.

Most of the dog walkers understand the reasons for clearing up after their dog. Leaving the mess for someone to tread in is bad enough. We all know how nasty cleaning your shoes can be. And being country people, many of them are only too aware of the problems that the bugs in dog faeces can cause to sheep and cattle. These nasty pathogens can survive in the soil for several years, so the potential for damage is long lasting. And there are problems for humans too. Happily the most serious forms of these are not found frequently. No-one knows how many digestive issues stem from getting dog mess on your hands. But if you get it in your eye, the damage can be serious and long lasting. The Daily Mail recently carried a story about a child who fell in a playground and got some of the stuff on her hand. She was crying and rubbed her eye. At the time the story was carried she was in danger of losing the eye. The pathogen damages the eye and the result can cause sight problems, even (thankfully very rarely) blindness. But however rare, it happens, as the Daily Mail story shows. And one child injured in this way is one too many.

So a group of responsible dog walkers got together with the site management to discuss what could be done, and several ideas came up, most of which will be implemented. One of these was to try to educate the public with a series of posters, believing that most people are reasonable. That has indeed proved to be the case, and there has been an improvement since the posters went up.

But there are others who take no notice. Whether they don't care, can't be bothered, are too ignorant or anti-social, or just think they won't get caught I do not know.

This morning I noticed that one of the polite explanatory posters explaining why dog walkers are asked to clear up was not in place. A closer look showed that it had been ripped off, and it was lying in the path. I picked it up, and found that it had been stamped into a heap of dog mess, so I got a handful of the stuff. Happily I carry clean-up bags and so on, and was able to limit the damage. But what kind of attitude is that? What kind of person not only allows their dog to shit on the path but tears down the "Clear it up please" poster close by and turns it into a trap?

Dog wardens now patrol Twywell Hills and Dales. They are empowered to issue fixed penalty notices. So someone soon is going to find their bad behaviour is expensive. There are few bad dogs, but plenty of bad owners.