VOLUNTEERS with an animal welfare charity are disgusted by the state and condition of dog poo bag dispensers in Bantry.
On four occasions, volunteers who work with the charity, Rural Animal Welfare Resources, (RAWR) have found the dispenser on the Abbey Walk vandalised.
The husband and wife told The Southern Star that the bags are provided free of charge by Cork County Council and that they fill the dispensers every two weeks.
‘We like to do our bit for RAWR by regularly checking them all and keeping them full,’ said the volunteer, ‘but we are becoming demoralised by the fact that the Abbey dispenser has been vandalised four times in four weeks.
‘Because the bin was so badly bashed, it wouldn’t open properly,’ she said. ‘That meant it couldn’t be refilled and that’s when people started to use it as a bin for domestic rubbish, and, just recently, maggots were found in decomposing matter.’
The inside showing it has been used for a variety of disposals.
Meanwhile, the dispenser on the Beicin Walk was so badly damaged a couple of years ago, that it, too, had to be replaced.
The bin for dog poo bags on the Beicin isn’t being used properly either, she said. ‘People are throwing the bags into the bushes instead and it is the Tidy Towns volunteers who are clearing up that mess.’
Part of the problem, she said, is that the Beicin rubbish bin fills too quickly because it is being used for domestic rubbish.
Dog walkers who want to comply with the law and ‘scoop the poop’ were delighted to find that Cork County Council responded quickly to the latest act of vandalism by swiftly replacing the dispenser at the Abbey Walk.
However, the volunteer believes the cost of continually repairing, or replacing the dispensers, is a waste of valuable Council resources.
Furthermore, she complained that people are selfishly using the bag dispenser as a bin for their dog’s poo, which not only renders it useless for everyone else, it means that someone else is given the dirty job of cleaning it.
