The three women who created a Facebook group encouraging people to clean up their dog’s poo have bagged up 11kg of the stuff during their first patrol – and said it was ‘disgusting that so much had been left in the beautiful town’.
Amber Godfrey, Sally Marchant and Lily Clark are the team behind Royston’s Dog Poo Patrol group, and headed out to Therfield Heath on Saturday for their inaugural walk to help clean up the area.
Lily, who runs Suppawt dog training school, told the Crow: “We were really surprised at how much we picked up in such a small distance.
“We also picked up lots of bagged poos which had been thrown into a nearby hedge.
“We felt quite proud that we were able to pick up so much – and even the rugby players on the heath complimented us – but I suppose we also felt quite disgusted that the problem was worse than we had originally thought.”
The group hope their patrolling will encourage people to pick up their dog muck and be responsible, and they will report those who they aren’t doing so.
Royston Dog Walkers group founder Sally – who also runs www.naturallyhappydogs.com – and dog behaviourist-in-training Amber said they saw an offender on the first walk.
“A lady just let her dog poo not far in front of us and not pick it up so we took photos and are now in the process of dealing with it,” Amber said.
“Anyone caught will be offered a poo bag, but if they keep offending we will report them. With more people we can pick more poo and hopefully the word will spread what we are actually doing and more people will become wary about leaving their dog’s poo.
“It was disgusting there was so much on a beautiful part of Royston – one that we are very lucky to have access to. The next hit is the BMX track as there is lots up there too.”
Conservators of Therfield Heath clerk David Smith said: “We are absolutely delighted with their attitude – it’s amazing that they’ve gone out to do this and 11kg of dog poo is astounding. It’s about the size of a small child out playing rugby, and it’s those children who are at risk.
“Its a wonderful piece of civic pride in the town.”
The group hopes people will continue to join them out for just an hour of their time to continue their mission to deter people from not picking up after their pooches.
Their next patrol is on Sunday from 11am to 12pm at Royston BMX park in Burns Road.
Search ‘Royston’s dog poo patrol’ on Facebook for more.
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