Dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets should be “named and shamed”, according to a local politician.
Councillor Dennis Melloy suggested the drastic measure as a way to tackle the unpleasant problem, which blights communities across Perth and Kinross.
Members of the local authority’s environment committee discussed the issue and how to overcome it, after concerns were raised by Councillor Callum Gillies about how effective existing initiatives are.
He told his colleagues that, in his experience, those responsible told people to “go away, but not in such a polite manner”.
Several suggestions were made, including using CCTV in Perth city centre, or installing cameras in areas known to suffer dog fouling.
Councillor Melloy said: “What can we do if we don’t have the evidence?
“People will not tell on their neighbours. I’ve said it before, name them and shame them.
“We need to get community groups together to fight against this we somehow need to get a partnership together to do something about it.”
Head of environmental and consumer services, Keith McNamara, said that the council had attempted to clamp down on dog fouling, but had failed to catch those responsible, despite community wardens patrols.
He suggested that public engagement was the only way to tackle fouling.
Mr McNamara added: “If people reported it more, we could deal with it on an intelligence-led basis.
“If someone came forward and said they saw someone letting their dog foul, we wouldn’t necessarily wait until we saw them we would chap their door and let them know they are on our radar and that we are watching them.”
Environment convener, Councillor Alan Grant, described it as a “social responsibility issue”.
“We can try more education, but people have habits that are very difficult to break and if their habit is to not bother, then it can be very difficult to do anything different,” he said.