Baltrasna Boreen Group launch Green Dog Walkers Initiative

Photo shows Baltrasna Boreen Biodiversity Group and community representatives.

Baltrasna Boreen Group launched the Green Dog Walkers initiative recently to raise awareness of the need to be a responsible dog owner when out for a walk.

Lesley Whiteside, Baltrasna Boreen Group, said: “We carry out projects in our area to inform, enhance and preserve our environment and the Green Dog Walkers is another element to our work.

“We have beautiful walks here and love to see people enjoying them, but dog fouling is a problem and that is why we have adopted the Green Dog Walkers scheme.”

The Green Dog Walkers (GDW) is a non-confrontational, friendly way to change attitudes about dog fouling.

The scheme consists of dog owners pledging to clean up after their dogs, wear GDW hi-vis vests and carry the GDW bag dispenser when walking their dogs, carry extra dog waste bags, be happy to be approached to give dog waste bags to those without, and to be a friendly reminder to other dog walkers to clean up after their dogs.

The philosophy of this campaign is to start shifting public attitudes so that it becomes socially unacceptable not to clean up after your dog.

With this change in attitude, it is hoped for a general acceptance that dog owners have to clean up after their dog fouls and therefore reduce the amount of litter in public areas.

Baltrasna Boreen is a small road linking the townlands of Marlinstown and Baltrasna, east of Mullingar. The road crosses the Royal Canal and finishes at the Dublin Sligo railway line.

But while this description identifies the location, it doesn’t reveal that the Baltrasna Boreen Group have made this area into a biodiversity haven to enjoy and learn in.

The group have worked in conjunction with Waterways Ireland and Westmeath County Council to create an outdoor classroom on the high bank.

This walk is a delight to stroll through, and there are information signs on the various trees, and lots of birds, and mammals to see along the way.

Over the canal bridge to the east, the group have installed bug mansions, and last year, with the assistance of a local member of BirdWatch Ireland, identified a nesting site of the Marsh Fritillary butterfly.

This find is of national significance.

The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland recorded that the range for the butterfly was declining and numbers are falling drastically in many European countries due to intensive farming systems.

Working with Waterways Ireland, cutting regimes have been agreed to protect this area.

Ruth Maxwell, Environment Department at Westmeath County Council, said: “Baltrasna Boreen Group are a group passionate about their area.

“They have worked relentlessly to deliver various projects that enhance and educate and the GDW is in very capable hands.

“The success of the GDW campaign is reliant on the volunteer groups who actively promote the initiative in their area, and in this regard a GDW Toolkit is available to those groups and resident associations and Tidy Towns groups who want to roll out the initiative in their communities.”

Toolkits are available from the Environment Department and anyone wishing to take part can email: awareness@westmeathcoco.ie or telephone 044 933 2125.

The toolkit consists of: pledge forms, guide booklet, signs for the estate/area, GDW hi vis vests/GDW dog collar attachment (hold bags), colouring sheets for children.