A WEST Devon parish council is stepping up its ongoing battle against dog poo in the village by providing dog walkers with the tools to pick it up.
Buckland Monachorum Parish Council has decided to purchase biodegradable dog poo bags to place around the most prevalent areas of the parish, in a bid to encourage owners to pick up after their pets.
The move comes following an ongoing trial by the council to spray paint dog mess to highlight how much mess is left behind.
Councillors decided at the beginning of the year to trial a method used by other councils to spray paint water soluble, brightly coloured paint in a bid to show how much dog mess is not cleared up in certain villages and encourage more people to pick up after their dogs.
Parish clerk Debbie Ashton said: 'Several parish councillors and a number of volunteer residents who have been spraying have reported a marked reduction in the amount of poop being left unpicked. The parish council feels it has been worth doing.
'Purchasing dog poop bags is to complement the good work done by the spraying.
'The council had heard of other parish councils doing the same thing and reported an even better reduction in dog poop being left.
'The poop bags the council has purchased are biodegradable and have cost 1p each. There won't be a dispenser but bags will be left in the areas of worst uncleared poop hotspots.'
The parish councils wants to remind residents who do walk their dogs in the area to pick up after them.
Mrs Ashton added: 'The parish council would like to remind people to dispose of bagged poop responsibly — it can be thrown away into normal litter bins as well as poo bins and if there are no bins nearby, to take the bagged poop home — as there is sadly a trend by a minority to dump the bagged poop in our beautiful countryside and there is no magic fairy that comes along to clear up.'
The parish council is also concerned about dog mess not being cleared up from public footpaths that run from the villages through livestock grazing areas, due to the parasites that the foul may contain, which could affect the health of livestock grazing on infected grass.
'Footpaths from villages into the countryside are of course very popular with resident dog owners — increased dog footfall inevitably leads to more uncleared poop,' said Mrs Ashton.
'You can imagine what a grazing field or a narrow path would be like in a week if someone with only one dog walks that way twice a day and doesn't pick any poop up,' she said.