Sweet reminder to bag it up
FUNNY cartoon messages and drawings reminding dog owners to pick up their pets’ poop bags have been popping up in one part of Ealing.
But the most bizarre thing of all is they claim to have been written from the dogs-eye view of the pooches themselves.
Images of the messages were shared by LAGER Can (Litter Action Group for Ealing Residents) with Ealing Council.
One amusing picture of a sketched dog left on a tree read: “Stop leaving poo bags it’s giving us dogs a bad name, grrr.”
So what lies behind the mysterious messages?
Northfields resident Mary Horesh started creating the messages and tying them around trees where she had seen poo bags dumped.
She said: “Pre-pandemic on our twominute walk to school I spotted five bags along a short stretch of Midhurst Road. It seemed to me whoever did it thought it was a street cleaners job to clean up after them.
Another one of the signs which appears to be written by a dog...
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“The frustrating thing is there is a local shop nearby only five minutes from any of these trees to dispose of the bags.”
Mary decided to put up a “gentle sign” to encourage people to pick up their bags at the same time as not offending other “responsible” dog owners, and so came up with the idea of the signs coming from a dog.
She added: “Strangely the bags disappeared in the lockdown from Christmas but since easing the bags have been appearing again. They are usually all the same distinctive colour, currently a pale purple, so my suspicion is it’s one person.
“I put the signs where the poo bags appear in hope to get the message out there.”
The 45-year-old believes they have been of some success as after attaching signs to trees with poo bags abandoned by them, she hasn’t seen another ditched since.
Fellow resident Jane Ruhland in Northolt has also been penning messages in attempt to reduce the problem in her local area.
According to the council, it costs the taxpayer nearly £3million a year to clean up streets, parks, remove litter and take action against fly-tipping.
A message asking dog owners to be kind pinned to a lamppost in Ealing
Cathy Swift, from LAGER Can, added: “I live in South Ealing, and I’d say finding bags of poo (or unbagged poo) is not common.
“From my experience working across the borough the problem is much worse in Northolt. But it only takes one selfish dog owner to cause misery for local residents by their thoughtless behaviour.”
Ealing Council has issued a reminder it is illegal not to pick up dog poo from any public space or footpath left by a dog you look after, and can result in a £150 fine.
Dipti Patel, Ealing Council’s director of place delivery, said: “Most owners do clear up after their pets but, sadly, a small minority don’t. There’s no excuse for this. It’s antisocial and a health hazard. It stinks and, quite frankly, it is unacceptable behaviour just to leave it. If these people are caught, they will be fined.”
But for Mary, putting up these signs is just a “small part” of being a passionate environmental campaigner.
The mother-of-two and marketing coordinator also runs Ealing Repair Cafe, and is part of Ealing Transition, helping them set up climate action projects.
Before her efforts in encouraging dog waste removal, she was already creating ‘Craftivism’ signs for a different purpose – spreading kindness back into the community during the pandemic.
One sign reading: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind”, was placed on Midhurst Road and continues to be on display six months later.