Man fed up with dog mess in hedge turns to CCTV

The hedge has become a dog mess hotspot, and the parishioner has complained to the douzaine and the police, but has been told that without evidence there is not a lot that can be done.

St Martin’s douzaine is also raising public awareness that people must clear up after their pets to avoid creating a health hazard.

Douzaine members are monitoring certain areas and perpetrators have been warned that they will be challenged and possibly charged and face fines of up to £1,000.

Junior constable Dave Beausire said it was a minority of dog owners who were spoiling it for everyone else.

‘We’ve had quite a lot of complaints from parishioners about dog mess being thrown into hedges and left on paths,’ he said.

‘People really have to take a bit more responsibility and actually take it home, once you’ve picked it up in a bag the worst part of the job is over.

‘There are a couple of places inland in the parish where it’s becoming a regular occurrence. It’s always the same places and it’s got to the point where one parishioner is looking at setting up a camera to try and catch the culprit.’

Mr Beausire said the douzaine did not want to disclose the location of the problem, but it had become a significant one.

‘It’s bags of dog mess continually being thrown into his hedge, it’s quite a big hedge and obviously someone is thinking that it will get lost in the grass,’ Mr Beausire said.

‘We’d like people to be more conscious that the douzaine will be keeping an eye on things, and if someone does abandon dog mess and they are spotted by someone from the douzaine we will challenge them.

‘Obviously we want to avoid any police charges and that’s why we’re asking people to be more responsible.’

A few years ago some of the parish-provided bins in St Martin’s were removed because people were dumping domestic rubbish in them, and even big bags of dog mess, which were assumed to have been collected from gardens.

All the bays have bins provided by the States, but when people clear up after their dogs inland, they are asked to take it home with them.

Senior constable Jeff Wilkes-Green said the parish wanted to crack down on the public scourge.

‘It’s been getting worse and I know there has been comment about the parish putting more bins out, but we made a decision to take those bins away because they were getting abused, the more bins you put out the more they get abused.

‘It’s the dog owner’s responsibility, it’s not the parish’s responsibility, they’ve got to clear up after the dog and take it home.’

Failing to clean up after a dog can result in a fine on prosecution.