Dog gone it! Tidy Towns aims to put an end to dog dirt in Annacotty
At the Karibu Montessori School and Playgroup for the handing over of poop scoops and anti litter signs. Included in the picture are children from the creche with John Kelly, Annacotty Tidy Towns and Mary Killeen Fitzgearld, Limerick County Council.
YOU CAN bring a horse to water but you can’t make it drink, and Annacotty Tidy Towns are having the same trouble with some dog owners not using pooper scooper bags.
The committee reformed in April 2011 after 10 years and they have been busy enhancing the potential of Annacotty.
Chairperson of the Tidy Towns group, Yvonne Fogarty, a native of Cappamore, says Annacotty is a beautiful place to walk and enjoy the outdoors.
“We love to see dog owners and their pets enjoying the space, however, a small minority of people have been irresponsible in cleaning up after their pets.
“This is causing a significant problem for local businesses, schools and homeowners especially when dog litter is brought indoors. In rare cases exposure to dog faeces can cause blindness in children,” said Ms Fogarty.
They enlisted the help of children and teachers from Karibu Montessori and Playgroup to raise awareness of the problem of dog fouling in the area.
Limerick County Council have provided additional signage and free pooper scooper bags.
These can be collected from retailers such as Noone’s Mace and Fresh Cleaners, Newtown Centre and Ryan’s shop and Nicholas’ butchers in the village.
The council’s environment section have praised them for tackling the dog fouling problem by joining forces with Karibu to make pooper scoopers available to local residents.
“This initiative together with the recent unveiling of a dog pooper scoop dispenser unit in the Castletroy Neighbourhood Park should go a long way towards creating awareness of the negative environmental and public health effects of dog fouling,” said Mary Killeen-Fitzgerald.
Pooper scooper bags is only the latest project by Annacotty Tidy Towns.
They have built links with residents groups, Mulkear Life, county council, schools and businesses.
A mural has been painted on the road bridge in Annacotty village and there are plans to transform the area around it to an amenity.
The area has benefited from new footpaths and cycle lanes and the co-op wall was painted by the committee to enhance and brighten up the village.
Ms Fogarty has extended an open invite to people to join the committee.
“We’d love to see new faces, there’s lots of work to be done - clean-ups, planting, painting and maintaining the website. It’s a great way to make friends and learn new skills. We have lots of plans in the pipeline!”
Send an email to annacottytidytowns@gmail.com.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Limerick
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
