THE parish of Bere Ferrers is to withdraw from the West Devon dog warden scheme due to lack of funds. Just before Christmas, parish councillors heard the council was faced with a deficit of almost £3,000. The problem was sparked by the fact that ten parishioners had requested a by-election, following the resignation of former councillor Kim Smith. Michael Endean, parish council chairman, said: 'We had £1,000 in our reserves for any election expenses and when we told the borough that ten people had requested an election, they said it would probably cost around £1,000 to £1,500, which we thought we could manage. ?Then they presented us with a bill for more than £2,000, so we had to find extra money.? The council decided unanimously that it would have to withdraw from the dog warden scheme run by West Devon Borough Council, which would save £1,000 ? any remaining funds needed have been added to the precept the parish demands from the borough. Mr Endean said: ?It is expected that next year we will budget to go back into the scheme. ?There are complaints from people that it doesn't work very well, but the dog warden does come out here when we have information to give him. ?The problem is when people don?t tell us what's happening ? if we knew when and where dog fouling was happening, then the dog warden could follow it up, but unfortunately that information isn?t always forthcoming.?