IF YOU’RE A dog owner and go walking your cute canine along Limerick’s boardwalk area, you might hear a disembodied voice reminding you to pick up your pet’s poo.
Don’t panic.
That voice coming from a lampost is part of a new initiative by Limerick City and County Council (who are following in Fingal County Council’s footsteps), which involves hidden audio devices broadcasting a message to encourage dog owners to clean up after their pets.
The two mobile programmable audio systems were developed by NUI Maynooth-based company Riteview Solutions, and have been installed on either side of the River Shannon in Limerick city.
Keeping the place clean
If you stroll pass one of the devices while walking your pooch, you’ll hear this message:
Do your bit to keep Limerick clean. Stop Limerick Dog Litter. Use any bag, any bin – please pick up after your dog.
Sinead McDonnell, the council’s Environment Awareness Officer, said that the devices can be moved around.
However, when they briefly moved them from the boardwalk recently,”some people were quite upset”, said McDonnell. She said that the initiative has had a “great response” so far.
According to McDonnell, sometimes people “are to embarrassed to pick [dog poo] up or carry it [in a bag]“, and the council wants to encourage people not to feel this way.
“The message we are promoting is simple; always carry a bag to clean up after your dog,” said McDonnell.
Failing to clean up after your dog is the same as littering and is an offence under the Litter Pollution Acts.
Limerick City and County Council provides bags to dog walkers in public parks, and has installed a number of dispensers in parks around Limerick.
Plus, Tidy Towns groups across Limerick have recently been supplied with a long handled pooper scooper for community clean ups, compliments of Maxi Zoo.
Fingal County Council also introduced talking lampposts recently, and according to the Herald in January, they led to an 80 per cent reduction in dog fouling in the areas where they were located.
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