Leader comment: Dog poo's double jeopardy

It seems a slightly odd thing to do, to go to the trouble of scooping up and bagging your dog's faeces, only to then throw it into a bush, tree or otherwise discard it.

Bagging dog poo is a good thing to do, but only if it is then put in a bin

Instead of removing something unsanitary – the main point of the bags – this regrettably common practice simply adds some plastic waste to the problem.

And, having done the unpleasant bit, it hardly seems too onerous a task to then find a bin.

We learned long ago that human sewage needed to be disposed of carefully and the same is obviously true for dogs. As Keep Scotland Beautiful rightly points out, canine excrement can “pose a serious health risk”.

The group is now calling for those who throw away bags of dog poo to be fined twice – once for dog fouling and a second time for littering. This would mean a total fine of £160.

Such a fine might seem a lot, but if a few culprits were made to pay that high a price, the problem would soon disappear.

And that would mean our parks, paths and other places popular with dog walkers would all be safer and considerably more pleasant.