Children’s art will encourage owners to pick up dog poo

THREE schools in Ballydehob that have to deal with dog dirt on a daily basis are taking a proactive approach to the problem.

Parents disgusted by the level of dog fouling at Greenmount Road leading to Scoil Bhríde, and Church Road leading to St Matthias National School, as well as the Ballydehob Community Creche and Playgroup, held a meeting recently to discuss the problem.

They came up with the idea of running an art competition on that very same theme.

The idea is to use the winning artworks as signage to get the message across to dog owners that they need to pick up after their pets.

The parents say they are grateful to Cork County Council for putting up official signage, but they are hoping that over the next two weeks their campaign will hit home with dog owners.

A post by Caroline O’Donnell on the Levis’ Bar Facebook page  attracted like-minded parents who were tired of their children walking in dog dirt and taking it into the playground and the classrooms.

‘Instead of hounding people – no pun intended – we wanted a more creative solution,’ said Caroline, who noted that the community field in front of the community hall is a problem area too.

‘We want the messaging to come from the kids,’ she added. ‘The artworks will hopefully educate dog owners to take the children into consideration.

‘Dog poo is not only disgusting, it’s also dangerous, especially when it is walked into classroom floors. There’s no need for it so we are hoping our community campaign works.’