Members of the community in Tenby are being sought to form a dog watch initiative to tackle the problem of fouling and owners breaking the summer beach ban rules.

A recent scheme was launched in Saundersfoot, where around 20 local walkers and dog owners have been tasked with wearing high visibility dog watch jackets to help Pembrokeshire County Council police the requirements to ‘scoop the poop’ in the tourist hot spot.

It’s the second such initiative to get off the ground in Pembrokeshire and was launched in conjunction with a ‘SaundersWOOF’ event put together by Dyfed-Powys Police to promote responsible dog ownership.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of Tenby Town Council, the town clerk told members that he had been copied into an email thread with PCC’s public health lead officer, Steve Morbey, and a member of the public who had noticed several people breaching the prohibition of dogs on beaches in Tenby that was currently in force.

“Mr. Morbey has suggested that Tenby might like to look into launching a similar scheme as the one that has been set up in Saundersfoot, where volunteers act as the eyes and ears to report owners who let their pets foul and breach the beach ban,” Mr. Davies told councillors.

“He does mention that there would be a cost implication should the town council choose to set up a scheme, as the hi-vis vests for volunteers would need to be funded,” he added.

The Deputy Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, said that she personally felt it was ‘a bit of a cheek’ that PCC were asking the town council to contribute financially to such a scheme.

“As much as we talk about dog fouling around this council table, it is not our job to fund such an initiative. I’m sure we could contribute, but not finacially.

“If there are any volunteers out there that would like to form a ‘TenbyWoof’ club, then they should contact the county council,” she suggested.

The Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, said that everyone paid their taxes for a dog warden to be employed by the county council, but that they were rarely seen on patrol in Tenby.

“I saw a dog warden shopping in Pembroke Dock recently, but that’s the first time I’ve seen one of them in over two years!” she told her colleagues.

Clr. Mrs. Maureen Ward agreed that it was a problem that Tenby faced, and that only having two dog wardens for the whole of Pembrokeshire wasn not good enough.

“There have been dogs with their owners every day on the North Beach since the ban came in!” she remarked.

Speaking on the recent scheme set up in Saundersfoot, Mr. Morbey said:

“Pembrokeshire County Council’s dog wardens have a large number of duties and simply cannot be everywhere in the county to keep a watch for dog fouling offences.

“Therefore, Saundersfoot has taken the ‘lead’ to say they will help us press home the message of responsible dog ownership.

“Frequently, our dog wardens will be on patrol, but rarely witness dog fouling offences because they are a visible deterrent and when they are present, people pick up their dog’s mess.

“However, dog fouling continues to be a reported issue and the community in Saundersfoot are going to become a visible deterrent.

“They walk their pets when council officers cannot be present and they will reinforce the message that if they do not pick up after their pets, someone may be watching.

“The volunteers will be able to provide information to the dog wardens, empowering the community to police itself and I’ve no doubt it will be a success,” he added.