Dog owners

please don't class all the owners with the same brush

yes they should,no one wants to carry these bags around with them for a long period of time,and if they have bins they also need to empty them on a regular basis

if they have bins they also need to empty them on a regular basis then they wont overflow and get left lying around.

and who wants to take dog waste home with them?no one,its not litter.

Apparently they don't want to take it home, they throw their bags into trees onto verges and leave it on the path or tree stump, but they are happy to take the dog to a public place to do its business AND let everyone else, dog owners non dog owners, children everyone has to suffer it and its not just messy and disgusting but it can make people blind due to the parasitic worm found in dog faeces unfortunately this is often children who don't realise they have been contaminated.

Not all dog owners are the same but how do you tell which are and which aren't? It shouldn't be litter but some owners are littering with their collected dog faeces. As RSPB can't afford to pay the £50 a time bin emptying fee and to be honest why should they?  The person responsible for the dog is responsible for its behaviour and whatever it produces. A bird reserve is not the place to walk your dog and as the gentleman said earlier he doesn't bring his dogs to the reserve and that is the way forward.  

This whole thread as made me very sad :( In some ways I agree, but I love dogs, and I lost mine in October :( She often came with me to Fairburn, always on a lead, and always cleaned up after. I was always made to feel welcome there with her, and still visit several times a week, occasionally taking a cake for the wonderful staff and volunteers. Now, just a couple of things to point out.. if a dog is well looked after and wormed regularly, there is no danger to the public from it's waste, that does not mean that owners should not clean up after them, and those that don't do this are giving all dog owners a bad name. It is however a problem that is all too common everywhere, not just at Fairburn. Dog waste can be placed in with general waste, once bagged, and there are general waste bins at Fairburn, although, I would take mine home and put it in my black bin, as this seems a better option, but if you are travelling far or don't want to take it home, then the general waste bins provided at the visitor centre can be used, maybe double bag it for obvious reasons! There are plenty of reserves which do not allow dogs in, but these then become off limits if you are a dog owner, so I feel it is important that some reserves, along with other attractions like the National Trust, do allow visitors with dogs to visit their properties and grounds. whilst on the whole most dog owners are responsible, some however, are not, and it is these people (not their dogs) that should be maligned here. I still see people allowing their dogs to run free, when ground nesting birds are at risk, but this is the same in the countryside too. Some people are never going to listen. That said, millions of people drive cars, and a minority drink and drive, or text whilst driving, that does not mean we stop everyone from driving does it?? I would like to see a pro active approach from the staff and volunteers (maybe just for a limited period of time) approaching visitors with dogs, and stressing the need to clear up after them, and keep them on leads, not everyone reads the signs! Please let us all try to be tolerant of others, don't let your dogs approach people unless you know they want to say hello, keep you dogs on leads when on the reserve, the ground nesting birds like Skylarks are at risk if you don't, and, come on all the dog owners... PICK UP THE POOP!!! Bag it and bin it, and don't leave it hanging on the trees or thrown on the ground, where other small animals can choke on the plastic!! And to all the people who don't like dogs, try to understand that we love our pets, and most of us ARE responsible, but we need to be able to enjoy nature reserves and the countryside in general, without being made to feel like second class citizens. Finally, a massive thank you to the staff and volunteers at Fairburn, I know they all work very hard to make it such a wonderful place.

At one of our local beaches there was a beach clean (we didn't know, we were heading onto the beach as they were all heading off) but one of the people had a load of poop bags and asked if we needed any (didn't, had a load in my pocket).  Maybe something simple like that, just having volunteers carry poop bags with them and offering them to people passing by with dogs?  Maybe mention where there is somewhere to dispose of the poop if there is so?  Just making people aware that you know there are people not picking up might scare some of the irresponsible owners off.

With my dicky bag I often end up taking poop home with me anyway as I forget I have poop in there to get rid of so just walk past bins!  There are other options for dog walkers and their poop you don't have to carry the bag around the whole time and with a dicky bag or similar you can take the poop away with you as the bag doesn't let out any smells, if anything I found the air freshener thing that comes with it much worse than the poop...I had to get rid of it because it was making me ill!

I agree with all you say loug and although I don't take my dogs to Fairburn I have absolutely no objection to other "responsible" dog owners taking their's,I love dogs.I never go anywhere without a pocketful of nappy sacks but I have never left a bag and it's contents for someone else to clean up and I've had dogs for almost 40 years.The latest I have seen at Fairburn is a bag and the contents pushed through the kingfisher screen I just hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence.

Hi All!

Dogs and nature reserves; a hot topic that comes up regularly for the RSPB! This has been a very useful thread. Thank you to all who are participating. I will explain a bit more about why we have the “dog policy” that we do at Fairburn and let you know about some changes that we are making as a result of it.

Because factors vary so much from site to site, the RSPB does not have a blanket policy regarding dogs. Reserves have their own individual policies, based on many factors.  At Fairburn Ings, the majority of our paths are public rights of way although some near the visitor centre are permissive footpaths. We have made the decision to allow dogs on the permissive paths. Although, unsociable behaviour from some dog owners is an issue, dog walkers are a large and valued part of our visitor demographic. We would not want exclude this large group from this area. Many are RSPB members. Also, there is a lot of cross-over between our user groups. E.g. many of our birdwatchers, families with young children and photographers bring their dogs and behave reasonably and respectfully to the reserve and other visitors.

There is a dog-poo bin just outside the reserve where it joins Fairburn village. This is operated by Selby Council. It’s presence seems to have very little effect on the levels of irresponsibility in that part of the reserve (Cut Lane). This is an unfortunately common situation that has lead to many local and city councils (including Leeds City Council, I believe) removing all their dog poo bins. In short, they don’t seem to work. From a health and safety point of view, many councils (and the Site team and Fairburn Ings) deem them not practicable.

It is “OK” to put bagged and tied dog-poo in a general waste bin. We encourage all our visitors to take away their waste with them but we do provide bin/recycling facilities outside our visitor centre during opening hours. We would not want to put waste bins out around the wider reserve. We feel it would detract from the natural feel of the reserve, be costly, possibly cause some H&S issues and ultimately not stop people from littering or not removing their dog-poo.  

I do think that we could make these bins outside the visitor centre more visible and accessible and will be relocating them. I will also be asking our wonderful team of staff and volunteers to keep a closer eye on the issue and making extra litter picking rounds when needed. Yes, they shouldn’t have to, but it doesn’t pick itself up!

If anyone would like to discuss the issue with me directly, please get in touch chris.woolner@rspb.org.uk 01977628191 – Chris Woolner Aire Valley Visitor Experience Manager

Thankyou for your response Chris. I do think that bins should be more visible and perhaps one or two polite notices for people to clean up after their dogs or any other litter for that matter. I understand what you are saying about the bin down at Cut Lane, only last week I noticed that people don't always use the bin but in all honesty it's not necessarily Fairburn Ings visitors that use that lane and if it wasn't there it would probably be even worse.Responsible dog owners,and I include myself in this,will always clean up after their pets whatever,wherever they are and although Cut Lane,Lin Dyke etc.are just as important, to me my main concern is at the main part of the reserve around the visitor centre etc.Anyway time will tell,at least it's a start so thankyou.