Dog poo is a problem.
It’s not getting any better. And no-one seems to be doing much about it. So how can we all do our bit to help turn things around?
Help is at hand – in the form of a new free app called “Pooper Snooper”
But first, what’s the problem and why should people care?
Most of us see it on a daily basis. And there are probably very few of us that haven’t trodden in it at some time. In the UK, dog fouling is one of the most common complaints to local councils. Not only that, it is reported that the number of areas affected by dog poop is increasing rapidly.
But it’s not just unpleasant. Far from benign, dog faeces left in the environment present serious health problems:
- Toxocariasis is a nasty disease that can cause blindness. The result of infection with a type of roundworm found in dog and cat faeces, children are particularly at risk due to being most likely to pick up and ingest soil contaminated with the eggs or larvae. The eggs remain viable in the soil for many years after the poo has gone.
- Neosporosis, another disease that can be transmitted in dog faeces, causes still birth in livestock if it enters the food chain.
Many dog owners are responsible and clean up after their pooch. But we all know that others are not as socially responsible, leading to the pollution of environments that are there for all of us to enjoy and share. With roughly 1 in 4 households currently owning a dog and approximately 9 million dogs in the UK in total, there could be a staggering 42.5 million poos per day entering our environment, all of which need to be safely and responsibly disposed of.
What can be done?
By downloading the new, free app ‘Pooper Snooper‘ you can join the fight against dog fouling and help tackle this messy problem.
How can it make a difference?
Pooper Snooper has been designed to allow you to quickly, easily and accurately record dog poo and also bin locations, which then appear on a map within the app.
Communities can use this to highlight and monitor problematic areas and it is hoped that the data will better enable authorities to act, for example, by providing extra and/or better placed bins or by enabling the efforts of over-stretched dog wardens to be better targeted.
People can also use the app to guide them to the nearest bin. And remember, if it’s bagged you can put it in any bin #AnyBinWillDo