A NEW campaign to try and eradicate dog fouling in the parish will begin in the Bere Peninsula on May 1.

For many years Bere Ferrers Parish Council has tried to reduce the amount of dog fouling in the parish, with some success, but there is still a problem prompting a new awareness campaign to try and educate irresponsible dog owners.

Chairman of Bere Ferrers Parish Council Hilary Boot-Handford said: 'We want to make people more aware of the problem of dog mess. Something that exercises people's passions is the state of our pathways and green areas after they have been visited by dogs with thoughtless owners.

'It is not just a case of bagging the mess — the parish council has had several examples of dog mess being bagged, then thrown into a hedge.'

She added that while the majority of dog owners acted responsibly when out with their pets, there were those owners who congregated for a chat with others and did not keep a watch on their dog, which might be running free and unsupervised.

'There are others who, because of their circumstances, take their pets out during the hours of darkness and are then unable to see what their pet is doing.

'By the terms of the Dog (Fouling of Land) Act 1996, a dog owner is committing an offence by allowing, knowingly or unknowingly, their dog to foul on land within a 40mph speed limit or less, or on any recreational or play areas outside any such limits.'

Dog faeces carry a disease called toxocara canis, which can cause the very unpleasant toxocariasis in humans, particularly children and young people.

This affects the eyes and could affect the lungs. Severe cases have occurred in people who are hypersensitive to allergens; in rare cases, epilepsy, inflammation of the heart, respiratory failure and sometimes death have resulted from this disease.

The new awareness campaign will see stickers appearing on bins, posters put up and the community encouraged to look after its public areas.

Leaflets will be supplied by the borough council and distributed around the parish and the authority will also supply the stickers for all bins — it is not necessary to use dog bins to deposit dog mess, it can be wrapped up and put in any litter bin.

Police community support officers and the borough's environmental officers will have the authority to issue fixed penalty notices to anyone caught allowing their dog to defecate in a restricted area.

The fixed penalty is £80 but a fine in court could be up to £1,000.

Parishioners can help too, by reporting to the borough council's environmental services department, any sightings of dog fouling, giving the location, date and time of the offence and, if possible, the name of the person with the dog. The dog warden will then investigate.

'This is not something the parish council or the borough council can do alone,' said Mrs Boot-Handford.

'We need your help to identify the offenders. With everyone's co-operation we can start to eradicate this problem.'