Dog mess ‘island-wide’
WITH reference to your headline on Monday 14 January, ‘Dog mess is an abuse of Le Guet’. The fouling must have been unpleasant for the Velo Club and seriously impacted their lawful enjoyment of their mountain-bike meeting.
Dog mess is not just around Le Guet. It is a problem in all open spaces. It is everywhere. The cliff paths, the parks, the reservoir walk, the country lanes, the car parks, L’Ancresse etc.
There are enough anti-
social and selfish dog owners to justify revisiting the suggestion by the States vet to introduce DNA testing of dogs on the island. It should be a prerequisite to having a dog licence issued, even if this means that the cost of a licence has to go up a bit. Any owner found without a licence should have a hefty fine. It would focus the minds of irresponsible dog owners to pick up after their dog if testing could name and shame offenders. Considerate and responsible dog owners would have nothing to worry about.
Apart from the sheer unpleasantness of inadvertently standing in a pile of dog poo, it represents a serious health hazard. Even dogs that are regularly wormed can carry the worm Toxocara canis, which can cause disease in the liver and eyes of humans and disease in other animals.
P. HEYWORTH
St Saviour’s