Woman Fined For Leaving Dog Fur In Park Questions Intentions Of Wardens
She holds a Kennel Club Good Citizen Award and carries a litter-picking stick in her car trunk to clean up any broken glass she finds. But after leaving a clump of her dog’s fur in a park, a dog owner says she was labelled a “criminal” and fined for littering.
Tracey Hayes was grooming her Golden Retriever Biskit and German Shepherd Rocky in Havering Park in London, England, when she was approached by two park wardens. Hayes was waiting for her son to finish soccer practice when the two officers came over. One warden photographed the hairball that fell from her brushing her pets. The other proceeded to write out a fine for £50. At first Hayes thought they were joking but when she offered to clean up the hairball, she says they refused to let her.
Hayes thought the discarded hair would not be a problem as birds would have used it as nest-building material. She told the Standard UK, “There was a handful of hair, I left it there for the birds. I always do it in my garden and haven’t met a single person who is against it.”
She questions the motivations of the wardens saying, “The officers were watching me, why didn’t they come over and ask if I minded cleaning up?”
She added, “I’ve spent so many years walking around local parks cleaning up broken bottles. I said I was so sorry and I would get straight out to clean it up. The litter in this area is disgusting and parks police have got a really tough job. But if it was really about the environment why didn’t they just ask me to clear it up?”
The experience has left her feeling disappointed. “What has disappointed me more than anything was he was going to give me that fine no matter what, even though I instantly offered to clear it up,” she said. “Obviously it was about the money, not the environment.”
She said she will not contest the fine: “I can’t deny what I did so I’ll pay the fine, but It’s really unfair to just spring that on people.”
“I spend so much time cleaning up litter in parks the fact I have been given a fine is ironic, they never see you do any of the good stuff. I thought, really, is the world that small-minded?”
Hayes added the wardens then drove off without clearing away the hair, which she ended up doing.