Serious problem with dog fouling in Cookstown cemetery

Staff at a Tyrone cemetery are ‘absolutely tortured’ by the problem of dog fouling, a local councillor has said.

Councillor Trevor Wilson has spoken of his sense of shock upon finding dog foul on his own late father’s grave when recently visiting Forthill Park Cemetery in Cookstown.

Raising the matter at the monthly meeting of Mid Ulster District Council, the Ulster Unionist councillor said: “It’s something that I would like the Environment Committee to look at once again, and that’s the whole issue of dog fouling in cemeteries.

“I was up visiting my father’s grave in Cookstown cemetery, and when I went to visit it there was dog foul on the grave.

“I went to the two people who were in attendance at it, they were cleaning up around the cemetery, two good people.

“They said the staff are absolutely tortured, the staff are having the lift dog fouling on the cemetery paths.

“I don’t know how we deal with it – you can’t put up signs because dog can’t read – but we need to be more proactive there because I’m not the only person that’s complaining about dog fouling up at the cemeteries, or indeed our streets.”

The matter was referred back to the next Environment Committee, due to meet next Tuesday, March 11, for further consideration.