Tayport, not Pooport!

Girl designs poster to urge folk to clean up dog mess

Tayport school children have decided to tackle the town’s dog fouling issue with a unique — and rather amusing — message to dog owners.

Their “don’t make it Pooport” campaign was chosen by the Tayport Community Council as the best way to reach irresponsible dog owners.

The project was led by community council vice chairman Derek Gray, who asked if Tayport Primary School pupils could draw up their own designs for a poster.

The design by Lara Manning, 11, who lives in Tayport, was chosen.

Now in first year at Madras College in St Andrews, Lara said the headteacher had approached primary seven pupils to try to come up with a creative idea.

Lara added: “Dog fouling is a problem in Tayport but it has been really cool to see my idea being put together for a poster.”

Derek said: “The campaign was launched last year but we’re moving into 2017 with a renewed effort.

“We’re going through town replacing posters that have been taken or torn down.

“The P7 class teacher was fantastic to make sure this went ahead — it nearly didn’t.

“It must have been the whole class who were involved in drawing up the design.

“It had all the messages we wanted it to and encouraged people to have pride in the town.

“And it really caught everyone’s attention.

“We’re very pleased with the final result.”

He added that the corresponding post on Facebook had received a lot of reaction with people showing great support for the campaign.

Maggie Taylor, councillor for Tay Bridgehead, said: “It’s a fantastic campaign for so many reasons.

“I hope that the posters will help to get the message across to people so this problem can stop.

“It’s quite sad that people don’t pick up their dog’s mess. It ruins their own town as much as their neighbours, but I hope this campaign will help remind people of that.

“It’s great that a child designed this as well though, as it makes the youngsters think about the problem.”

She said she hoped the amusing message would help to spread the word.

“The more people that see this and know about it, the better,” she said.

“It’s such a simple thing to put a bag in your pocket — it’s one of the things you need to be aware of if you’re considering getting a dog.”

‘DON’T let Tayport become Pooport’.

Lara Manning with the winning design urging people in Tayport to stop dog fouling.