Back in May of 2013 we posted our latest request for dog walkers to take their little bags of ‘dog toffees’ off site with them when they’d finished their walk instead of hanging it in the bushes or throwing it on the path side. We repeated this in December 2013 after our ecologist counted sixteen bags between the allotments off Shipton Road and the crossroads with the N65 cycle track on one day that month so some people have been making  a concerted effort of being a nuisance. As well as being unhygienic it may also damage the wildlife  areas in concentrations such as this (known as eutrophication), and god only knows what the wildlife think and how they react. Dog poo may also contain the parasite neospora – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neospora_caninum – that can be spread between cattle and the dogs, and visa versa, along with a number of intermediate hosts such as birds. As we graze cattle this may pose a real risk to livestock, as well as other dogs. The parasite and its effects was featured on BBC Countryfile on Sunday 16th February 2014.

There is also the risk of dog faeces causing toxocariosis, which although rare in the UK can cause blindness in humans.

Please think of others and remove your doggy bags – there are bins at the Shipton Road layby, and at the entrances to the Country Park. Rawcliffe Meadows is not a public park and has no resources to clear up after dog walkers and their animals. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and managed as a farm.