Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they cast them upon the dunghill (Gospel of Thomas 93).

Jesus of Nazareth

Nothing is poorer than a dog and richer than a pig (bShab 155b)

Rabbinic Proverb

As I finish my term as Chairman of the Health and Environmental Services Committee of Belfast City Council, I have been assessing the great work achieved by that Committee under our Director, Suzanne Wylie. One issue still bothers me as a Councillor and Community Paediatrician and that is a problem affecting all councils in the British Isles–Dog Fouling.

There are approximately seven million dogs currently residing in our United Kingdom producing one thousand tonnes of faeces per day. In 2005 the charity “Environmental Campaigns” estimated that there were more than 200,000 complaints by members of the public in the kingdom on the subject of dog fouling in a three year period of study and the Local Government Association has reported that 95% of the British public are worried about dog fouling in public places. Dog fouling has both direct and indirect effects on public health. Direct exposure to canine faeces can cause toxocariasis, infection of the round worm Toxocara canis but it can also potentially lead to slips, trips and falls and subsequent injuries.

When dog faeces disintegrate, eggs are released into the surrounding soil becoming a source of toxocariasis infection. In some surveys the egg density has been estimated between 0.1 and 23 eggs per gram of soil. Studies have shown egg-positive soil samples in 66% of our parks. Children between two and four years of age are at greatest risk of the disease and most infections lead to a visceral syndrome categorised by fever, enlargement of the liver and spleen, pallor, respiratory problems and skin lesions and there are occasionally convulsions, heart problems and eye lesions. Because infection is not a notifiable disease here the only source of data is based on voluntary reporting of infection and therefore the condition appears rare when it is not.

Focus has largely been on the direct health impacts of dog fouling but indirect effects are equally important. Economic development can improve health through lifting people out of poverty so that dog fouling can have a significant economic impact in terms of deterring inward investment and tourism. Few businesses and individuals are going to be attracted to visit or invest in areas littered with dog faeces. Local authorities including Belfast City Council have made use of a variety of interventions to tackle dog fouling but these need to be systemically reviewed so that research can be commissioned to answer the important question of what interventions actually work. This will provide one of the most challenging issues for the incoming Council in Belfast.

What is really needed is responsible dog ownership and significant behaviour change so that people do not allow their dogs to stray and always clean up after them. Legislation in this area is inadequate and we have been lobbying Government to improve it for years. A 2 week dog fouling awareness campaign is being launched on 23rd April 2011 which will involve an extensive advertising campaign including billboards,radio, newspapers, leaflets and posters. Cleansing depot road shows will also be undertaken in April to discuss service quality with an emphasis on removing dog fouling during sweeping rotas. The Isle of Man has now introduced DNA testing of dogs and residual faeces.We await the results of how effective this measure will be.