'I am an annoyed eight-year-old boy': Disgusted primary pupils' plea over park dog mess problem

Pupils from Year 4 at Dawley CE Primary Academy have written letters to the Shropshire Star, local council and other groups to try to raise awareness of the problem of dog mess in their local park.

The Shropshire Star received about a dozen letters from the youngsters who are determined to keep their community looking clean and tidy.

The selfless children, who have dedicated hours to keep the local park tidy, are issuing a desperate plea for more to be done by dog owners to clean up after their pets.

Dear Shropshire Star Readers,

Hello, I'm Kimberley Knight and I am from Dawley CofE Primary Academy and I am nine years old.

I am fed up with people not picking up their own dog's much and it is disgraceful. If you don't pick up your dog much, then people are treading in it when they walk past.

We run around the park every day and we see horrible dog muck.

When we go to church, we need to go around because people tread in it and spread the dog muck even more. Also, when people want to go on the park, it is blocking the path.

Not picking up your dog's poo is disgraceful. It is not only dirty, but can cause lots of problems.

First, it can cause lots of people to go blind, because of the nasty bacteria in the dog muck.

Also, don't you know it is breaking the law. In addition, it is a problem for toddlers who can tread in it.

If people clean their dog muck up, if we respect the park, then it will be a better, cleaner park for every one.

Yours faithfully,

Kimberley Knight

The eight and nine year olds use Dawley Park each morning for a daily run but say they are disgusted about the amount of dog mess they see.

And they were made even more angry when, on their weekly walk to church, they had to dodge even more mess.

The church school makes weekly visits to Holy Trinity Church in Dawley. And the children say they have to avoid the mess, which is all over the pavements.

Because the class regularly uses the park, they help to keep it looking nice for the community, planting and making sculptures. They now want the rest of the community to look after the park as they do.

Dear Shropshire Star,

My name is Tyarni, I am nine-years-old and I go to Dawley Primary Academy and I want to complain about the park and all the dog mess.

When we were walking to Holy Trinity Church, 200 people had to avoid the dog mess. It is disgusting!

When we run in the park, there is dog mess everywhere. It is disgusting we hate it, it is not nice.

We have to keep avoiding the dog muck it is disgraceful. I don't like seeing our park like this.

In addition the problem won't get better as people will keep doing the same and it is blocking the path, it is disgraceful, seeing our park like this.

People are really lazy all they need to do is get dog bags and pick it up with the bag.

If the dog owners do not pick their dog poo, if others copy them, if it does not get cleaned up then it will spread.

Yours annoyed,

Tyarni Davis

The students sent out dozens of letters to try to attract attention. Class teacher, Tina Palmer, said: "We are directly opposite Dawley park.

"The class do a daily run in the park, because part of their time at school is also about developing their mental health and wellbeing.

"Because we use it so much, we try and look after it, the children have done willow weaving sculptures, planted up tubs around the area to keep it looking nice.

Dear Shropshire Star,

I am an annoyed eight-year-old boy from Dawley Primary Academy and I am annoyed because there is dog muck all around Dawley.

On Tuesday February 28, when walking to church, dog muck was all on the pavement and alleyways. We want it to stop because teachers have to make sure we don't step in it.

They have to stand close to the poo and this is very disgusting.

We run around the park every day and people let their dogs poo on the floor and don't pick it up.

Their dog poo is becoming a real big problem.

We can slip in it and it is very annoying and disgusting if this happened.

If people do not pick up their dog's mess, if it ruins the flowers, then the park will be spoilt.

Yours annoyed,

Kane

"One thing the children have noticed is the amount of dog mess. They see lots of dog walkers around and speak to them. But the children were cross about it, particularly as there had also been some vandalism where things were ripped up.

"When they were walking to church, they had to dodge around it." She said that the children came up with the ideas for who they wanted to write the letters to and it also fitted with their literacy work around persuasive writing and letters.

She said that the children are over the moon that they have received some responses to the letters and hope that more dog owners will take responsibility and clean up after their pets.

She said: "It has made them feel like they are doing something worthwhile. It is also something good for the whole community, which helps with the church school's ethos."

Dear Shropshire Star,

I am an annoyed pupil from Dawley CofE, I wish to complain about the dog faeces. It's disgraceful.

My name is Mia, I'm eight-years-old. This may make your jaw drop by how disgraceful it is. I'm disgusted. It is a lovely park and we don't want it to close to the public, so you owners clean it up before we do have to.

On Tuesday February 28, the school walked to Holy Trinity Church. When we were walking, we found lots of faeces – it is horrible.

It is not only dirty, but it can cause lots of problems. Firstly it is breaking the law.

Also it is a problem for the little ones who might have not seen it and may even eat it.

In addition, it can cause blindness because some faeces has parasites in it. Not only that it wrecks our shoes and smells bad.

So keep picking up after your dogs. If you do not clean the dog's poo, then others will copy them.

If it does not get cleaned up, then it will spread everywhere.

If the owners do not clean the poo up, it is horrible.

Clean it up now or else you will be fined.

Yours disgusted,

Mia Preece