Kentish Express Ashford & District
Widow and daughter fed up with dog walkers who let their pets run wild in cemetery I’m too scared to visit my husband’s grave, says Betty
sawilliams@thekmgroup.co.uk A great-grandmother says she regrets laying her husband to rest in an Ashford cemetery after unruly dogs have made her too nervous to visit his grave.
Pensioner Betty Croucher, 77, and her daughter, Zoe Dehara, 51, say they are fed up with dog walkers who let their pets run wild and foul on graves in Bybrook Cemetery, Kennington.
Mrs Croucher, of Hawks Way, said: “The dog mess over there is disgusting. We have been chased and knocked off our feet by a massive dog whose owner was sitting with his back to us.
“When we yelled he turned round and said ‘I didn’t hear you coming’.
“Some owners sit on the seats and are oblivious to what is going on. If I had known of this dog problem I would never have put my husband’s ashes to rest there.”
The women are now calling on owners to be more responsible when walking their dogs in the cemetery.
“I am a bag of nerves when I go there,” said Mrs Croucher . “Just before Christmas I was sitting on the seat and a dog came from nowhere. I jumped up. If only people realised not every everyone likes dogs.”
Mrs Dehara paid £550 for a bench near her father’s plot in the woodland section of the cemetery and has planted a tree. However, she now says she is too afraid to visit on her own.
She said: “Last year I was chased by a mastiff dog. The owner said it wouldn’t hurt me, but how do they know? I was bit bitten by a police dog when I was 13.
“I’m now too scared to go over there on my own. I’ve seen people let their dogs run all over the graves. They should be made to keep them on a lead or be fined. ”
Mrs Croucher and Mrs Dehara have both complained to Ashford council about the problem.
Mrs Croucher added: “We have no objection to dogs in the cemetery. We just ask that owners keep them on a lead. And if they mess, make sure you pick up after them.”