Benidorm intensifies control to avoid pet droppings on public roads

The Departments of Street Cleaning and Public Security have intensified surveillance and control for compliance with the Municipal Environment Ordinance, especially regarding compliance with articles 153.2 and 177.1, relating to the collection of pet droppings and other animals in the public roads and the transit of animals without their corresponding identification chips or without a leash.

In this sense, the Department of Street Cleaning has detected that in many streets and sidewalks of the city there are uncollected dog excrements "so we have asked for the collaboration of the Local Police to be able to tackle this problem generated by some uncivil people who do not comply with the municipal ordinance” has indicated the councillor José Ramón González de Zárate.

The Parks and Gardens concessionaire itself said the mayor, “has informed us that there is a lot of carelessness by some individuals and that many excrements were appearing in neighbourhoods where there was a lot of care. Now that there is not much tourism, we take advantage of it so that there is a police presence in all the neighbourhoods and catch the offenders.”

Specifically, the areas most affected by this situation are the Els Tolls neighbourhood, the Madrid neighbourhood, La Cala - Calpe avenue and Entre Naranjos urbanization are especially special - and Estocolmo, Montecarlo, Viena and Oslo streets in Rincón de Loix.

In that sense, between February 10 and 16, the Local Police have filed up to nine sanctions for these reasons, fines ranging between 100 and 120 euros.
González de Zárate has called on pet owners to "take care of the public thoroughfare" and has emphasized that the City Council "is making an effort to improve the urban scene and make a friendlier city for tourists and neighbours". For this reason, he has indicated that "going to the parks or exercising in the bio-healthy elements and finding pet droppings there is not something worth noting."

“We are going to be very scrupulous in complying with the Ordinance” González de Zárate indicated “because we cannot allow the image of the city to be harmed by the behaviour of a few”. The mayor has specified that the Local Police have "very specific" instructions to try to avoid these situations.

In addition, he added that "we will be inflexible with those people who repeat this type of uncivil behaviour" and recalled that the regulations oblige pet owners to go "provided with the necessary material for the collection of excrement (bag, box, a bottle of water…) on public roads”. The mayor has insisted again that “we will be forceful to enforce the ordinance and sanction because we are no longer in the notice phase. Citizens are well aware of the ordinance because it has been in force for years and there are many complaints that we are receiving.”

Lastly, he has insisted that “the cleaning staff is not there to collect pet droppings; That's what the owners have to do. What we will do is to sanction those who are caught red-handed. That is why I ask that you be careful and that you should think of the city.”