Loos for dogs in London

Press, 15 July 1976, Page 7

Loos for dogs in London

By

JOHN ROSS,

London correspondent

A canine-carried worm which can damage children’s eyesight is causing increasing concern in Britain, but a suggestion that dogs should be prohibited in urban areas and banned from council houses is sure to lead to howls of

protest from canine enthusiasts. The suggestion was made by Mr N. Nicholson, secretary of the Slough Council for Voluntary Service, in his annual report. A 12-year-old girl from Slough, said Mr Nicholson,

has had one eye removed and has lost most of the sight in the other as a result of contracting Toxocara canis, a disease caused by a worm passed by dogs in their excreta. The girl’s family has never had a dog, and it is believed the infection, the dangers of which have only recently become apparent in Britain, could have been dormant for up to three years. Tests have shown that the soil in London’s parks is often heavily contaminated with Toxocara eggs. Although serious illness is rare, it is estimated that it probably affects one child in 20 in Britain.

Fouled footpaths, of course, have provided tourists with a justifiable criticism for many years. Britain’s dogs, are estimated to deposit 1.5 million gallons of urine and about 500 tons of the other thing every day, much of it on footpaths and in parks.

More dog toilets might ease the situation said Mr Nicholson, but the local authority which built the first two canine loos has doubts about that. They were established by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 1972, in gardens on the Chelsea Embankment. z

They comprise a sandpit about five feet long, with six inches of sand, a 10inch high kerb, and a bollard in the middle. A notice urges: “Please train your pet to be clean.”

According to a council spokesman, both toilets are well patronised, and many dogs actually use them “voluntarily.” But the council says the loos, which were built with surplus materials at a cost of $2O each, are not used as often as it would like.

“Some owners deliberately ignore them, and take their dogs on to the grass,” said the spokesman — which only goes to prove that it’s the owners, not their pets, who need training. Mr Nicholson, who has been campaigning to restrict dog ownership for some time, still feels that more dog loos would help.

He suggests dogs should be banned from urban

areas, and from council houses throughout the country, and that the dog licence fee should be increased from 68 cents 10' $lB to help to pay for “dog wardens.”. “I know I’m going to create an' uproar among dog lovers,” he said, “But I think a child’s sight is far more important than their considerations.”