A quick moan…

In the past, one would hear the odd complaint about dog poo on the streets of Nerja, not a particularly nice sight. These complaints, however, have become more and more frequent lately.

Being someone who regularly pounds the streets, in the best possible taste, of course, I never saw what the fuss was about. Yes, an occasional pile, but nothing ‘out of the ordinary’, shall we say. Whether this was because of the daily, early morning street washing by the authorities or through ‘timing’, I don’t know.

However, in the past few months, basically since the so-called ‘crackdown’ on such antisocial behaviour (on the part of the dog owners, not the animals themselves), I have noticed that the situation has changed. And for the worse.

The crackdown appears to have been limited to the placing of a few sign boards throughout the town. Although a great photo opportunity for the politicians, it has been about as effective as a chocolate fireguard. In addition, the frequency of street and track cleaning by the tankers seems to have diminished, strange considering the drought restrictions have now been lifted.

During the drought restrictions, the streets and tracks would be washed daily, even during a thunderstorm and downpour! Now?

Anyway, certain areas of the town are worse than others when it comes to the dog poo problem. Avenida Castilla Perez can be quite bad at times, the area approaching Torrecilla beach (avenida Mediterraneo and some of the side streets) can be very bad and some of the smaller streets, such as calle Manuel Marin (links calle Granada to avenida Castilla Perez) can be like walking through a minefield.

Dogs have to ‘do their business’, just like humans, it’s a fact of nature. In some European countries, there are special areas designated as ‘animal toilets’, regularly maintained and cleaned, maybe this would be an idea. It would not, of course, solve the problem, but it might help.

What is really needed is a ‘proper’ awareness campaign combined with a ‘real’ crackdown on offenders with fines at a level which would deter such antisocial behaviour. Maybe adding the dog loo idea as well. Merely putting up a few signs has certainly not worked.

End of moan.