JUST one dog-fouling fine has been issued in Jersey in the past five years, the JEP can reveal.
Following a freedom-of-information request from this newspaper about the number of fines issued across all parishes, it has emerged that only one dog owner who did not pick up after their pet was fined – in St Saviour in September 2023.
Under Jersey law, anyone caught not picking up after their dog on public land will receive an automatic fine of £1,000. It can be enforced by the honorary police or parish officials.
A dog walker said more fines should be issued to deter pet owners from contributing to the “poo problem”. Gail Bennie, a member of the Jersey Dog Forum and joint founder of the “Wild Poo Project”, said that many would be disappointed at the figure.
“I’m pretty sure most of the community who care about the poo problem would be very disappointed to hear this,” she said. “I think many of us share the opinion that a few fines being issued to people who blatantly disregard their dogs fouling could reduce the number of left-behind dog droppings.”
The “Wild Poo Project” was launched last year by the dog-walking company Ms Bennie works for, Spotted Wellies, to encourage Islanders to help pick up dog poo to keep beauty spots clean.
During the first walk of the project in June, Ms Bennie, who averages six walks a week, said she had collected 86 bags of dog waste left lying around the sand dunes in St Ouen’s Bay.
Since then, hundreds more walkers have joined the Facebook group and share images of how much waste they have collected. In January alone, 1,097 pieces of excrement were collected, many of which were found in fouling “hot spots” in St Ouen, according to Ms Bennie, including the areas around Les Landes race course, the sand dunes and Les Mielles.
“The hot spots are horribly dog poo infested,” she added.
Her comments come as dog owners have called for more to be done to clamp down on the messy issue, which has proved difficult to police.
In May, Islander Marlena Bartus lodged a petition calling for a dog DNA database to be created, so that thoughtless owners could be tracked down and punished if they failed to collect their pet’s waste.
In her petition, which received over 250 signatures, she said that this policy had already been introduced in some European cities.
She wrote: “Under Jersey law you can be fined for not picking up after your dog, but this is difficult to police. The solution is mandatory DNA testing for all dogs.
“When authorities find dog poo, a sample can be collected, tested, and cross-referenced against the DNA database to identify the owner. This law has already been introduced in Bolzano, Italy, and a similar scheme is being trialled in Béziers, France.”
St Ouen’s parish administration and its honorary police unit have been contacted for response.
