Fife Council is considering naming and shaming irresponsible dog owners who fail to pick up after their pets.
Environment spokesman, Councillor Pat Callaghan, is currently in talks with council lawyers to ascertain whether publishing names would be a legitimate step in the war against dog fouling.
Dogs’ dirt is a huge problem in the kingdom and more than 170 fixed penalty notices been issued to dog owners in the last four years.
This is believed to be just the tip of the iceberg however, and hundreds more are going undetected, leaving council workers and members of the public to remove the mess themselves.
Responding to a question from Dunfermline councillor Joe Rosiejak at last week’s full council meeting, Mr Callaghan said 60 fixed penalties had been issued in 2012, 41 the following year, 43 in 2014 and 32 last year.
He said a further 22 members of staff had now been trained, meaning there were now 34 officers who are authorised to impose penalties.
“People not being in proper control of their dogs and not being responsible enough to pick up after them is a massive issue,” he said.
“These are irresponsible dog owners and they don’t care who they affect.
“We are often seeing the horrible situation where children are playing football and going home covered in dog mess.”
He added: “Because of that, I am currently talking to our legal people about naming and shaming.”
Mr Rosiejak welcomed Mr Callaghan’s comments, stating: “Dog fouling remains a concern for many communities.”
He added: “There are many people in this room heavily involved in youth organisations and I, for one, have spent an awful lot of time trying to get my leaders to clear up places so they can take the kids out safely.”