Give responsible dog walkers some slack

I too am always picking rubbish left by irresponsible humans. I would encourage councillors to go to Edisford Bridge Riverbank after the weekend, before the hard-working council cleaners have spent up to two hours picking up discarded BBQs, dirty nappies, food waste, cans, beer and wine bottles, the list goes on. I go down regularly and hardly ever see any dog mess but am left disgusted that families go down to enjoy a picnic/drinking binge and just walk away and leave their waste.

I don’t get it, they can carry it down full but when its much lighter and can be squashed possibly into one or two carrier bags and taken home they could “do their bit” as many dog walkers do. I and friends have walked from Bashal Barn into Clitheroe and filled carrier bags of discarded rubbish. From dogs? No, from irresponsible, dirty humans.

So I say to the council: clamp down on the rubbish and give the dog walkers some “slack” because the dirty dog owners will still not clean up because even when there is a bin near by they go out in the dark and early morning and won’t change…

Could I also ask: in regards to the fines “dished out” to people only out playing and walking with our beloved dogs - which we have every right to do - as we pay our council taxes, what are they are going to do with the extra revenue? Maybe pay for Dog Warden cover for weekends because at weekends there are no dog wardens on duty despite us being led to believe there are.

For not the first time I had, this week, a member of the public knock on my door and ask “is this one of your dogs” or “I found this dog and don’t know what to do with it”. This time it was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The reason they knock on my door is because of my van parked on my drive, as I operate Valley Pet Services, so they think its my responsibility but it is not, it is the responsibility of Ribble Valley Council who have no one to help other than a voice that can do nothing.

In this particular case, as others, I scanned the dog as it has no tag and that is an offence. I made a phone call to the Ribble Valley “on call” but they told me to phone the police as the dog was on the road and there is also a children’s playground near by. I can’t remember to who, but at one point I asked: “What can I do with him?” I was told I would have to just “let him go”. I couldn’t do this and asked: “what if he attacks a child?”

“The owners would be held responsible and be prosecuted”.

This would be little consolation to a child! The police did come after my insistence they get involved as they have no “remit” now to do so. All in all, this took around two hours of my time.

Maybe Ribble Valley could pay my expenses out of the extra revenue…

Mrs Pam Kent

Clitheroe