Mazarron dog mess clean-up campaign gets serious, including Camposol

Mazarrón Council loses patience with irresponsible dog owners in new campaign to impose fines

Dog excrement has been a growing concern for some time in Spanish cities, towns and villages with local councils “getting tough” on irresponsible dog owners who don’t think they have to clean up after their pets. Some councils like Alicante have used aggressive advertising campaigns to the extent of inviting dog owners to eat the mess left by their pets, others like Torrevieja have introduced heavy fines and the council of Crevillente even proposed introducing DNA testing and registration to address the problem.

In Mazarrón the council, after trying the "No Excuses" campaign which consisted of polite notices asking dog owners to pick up after their pooches, have now introduced a campaign to enforce the 2006 municipal bylaw which includes fines of up to €450 for people in control of dogs who don’t clear up after their pets - and it’s not just in public areas, fines can be imposed where the offence occurs in a private communal area. A translation of the specific bylaw is as follows:

Article 12: Excretions in public and private spaces for common use

1. People in charge of dogs and other animals must prevent them from depositing their droppings on sidewalks, walkways, gardens and, in general, anywhere intended for pedestrian traffic.

2. Whenever the excrement is deposited in any space, both public and private for common use, the person in charge of the animal is obliged to proceed with its immediate cleaning.

This in effect means that the bylaw is applicable in private as well as public roads and areas, in fact anywhere where people might be out walking in Camposol.

The initiative is part of the recently launched effort to generally clean up the municipality and also includes the beaches and refuse and recycling points. The dog poop campaign is spearheaded by a poster to be displayed in prominent positions and posted on social media, which says (in translation):

“He can't, but you can. throw it in the garbage”

“Avoid fines and penalties in Mazarrón for not collecting the waste of your pets. Be responsible.”

A new service has also been introduced by Mazarrón council called “Mazarrón Sostenible”, aimed at sustainablility, recycling and keeping the municipality clean with campaigns including the dog mess problem. The service will provide information and invites reports by phone on 968 333294 or by email at limpieza@mazarron.es. A new Mazarrón Sostenible website is being set up where information can be found and incident reporting can be lodged.

For more local news, events and other information go to the home page of Camposol Today.