Dog walkers in the vicinity of Port Erin must be more vigilant: there is now greater scrutiny to ensure they pick up after their dog.
The local authority has appointed an environmental warden whose job is to enforce the byelaws - particularly in regard to dog mess - who is patrolling the village from January.
The appointment follows a poster campaign last year featuring a Tinkerbell-type ‘dog poo fairy’ which said: ‘Bag that poo, any rubbish bin will do’ in which dog owners were reminded they must pick up after their dog and throw it in the bin because the fairies weren’t going to do it!
There are more than 100 street litter and dog poo bins located across Port Erin and the commissioners collect more than 300kg of dogs’ mess weekly from bins.
Commissioners’ chairman Nick Watterson said: ‘Following the “There’s no such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy” campaign earlier in the year, the board felt that momentum needed to be kept to maintain the improvements seen to date, and agreed that having an environmental warden as a dedicated part time role would be beneficial.
‘The environmental warden will be working across the whole of the village at varying times of the week, primarily enforcing our dog byelaws but will also be offering byelaw advice and liaising with members of the public who may wish to raise any concerns. Initially this will be trialled for a three month period and reviewed during that period.’
See www.porterin.gov.im