Friends For Pets Brecon, a pet care company in the town are holding a ‘poo patrol’ in the town on Friday, May 31.

This will be the pet care company’s second poo pick up, as back in June 2022 they held a street cleaning patrol at Brecon Promenade where they picked up nearly one dog poo per minute.

Assistant Manager of Friends for Pets, Elen Kelly said: “Being local we spend a lot of time in and around Brecon on a daily basis, whether out on dog walks, being out with my two kids or just going for a stroll on a day off. This is how we know there's a terrible dog poo problem in Brecon! So much of it is just left lying around. 

“So in June 2022 Lucy (Friends for Pets Brecon Manager) and myself took to the Prom for 90 minutes to see how much dog poo we could collect. We were amazed and disgusted to find that we collected 80 poos in that time, so nearly a poo a minute! We did this to not only help clear up Brecon, but also raise awareness of the problem in the town! Lucy lived in Bristol for a long time and can honestly say it was so much cleaner in the city! Brecon is one of the worst places for dog poo that we have ever come across.

“Unfortunately it didn't prompt an overly positive or helpful response from the council, just saying that people are responsible for their own dog mess. We know there's a few poo bag stations in and around town, but they've been empty for weeks, and the bins are often missing or overflowing, especially in school holidays when tourists flock her, so we do think this has something to do with the problem. It's absolutely not an excuse, because people should always be prepared as dog owners, but think it's definitely contributing to the repeated dog poo mess.

“I've even seen it in town loads lately, on the pavements. There was an incident recently where a lady slipped and fell in dog mess outside a shop in town. So it's not even just on the regular walking spots anymore. It's incredibly unsanitary and also ruins our beautiful town. Too often a walk or park trip has been cut short because someone's got dog poo on them and it's horrifying to think of the impression this must leave on visitors to the town.

“So on May 31, 2024, Lucy, myself and the whole Friends For Pets team are hitting the streets again. We want to see how much we can clear up in 90 minutes and hopefully save a few people from walking through muck on their visit to Brecon over the holidays. We're all doing this in our own time, no-one is being paid to clear up poo. Our wonderful team of pet carers are volunteering their time to help us tackle this problem, one poo at a time.”