-----------------------------------------------------------
CSI Catwatch----------------------------------------------------------
I returned this morning to collect the kitty, whom I named 'Mogs', believing it would be worth a check since the beach would be filling up with kids over the next hour on, and it's not a nice thing to find.
I noticed a lot of dog walkers out & about this patch, a few of them using this specific path round the back of Fort Perch just in the five minutes I was stood there. One dog walked directly up towards Mogs and myself prior to running off to catch up with it's owner.
Despite the tide, Mogs was still in exactly the same place, well enough wedged to have been there for a while. Completely floppy at the time, which usually means someone's been there for at least few days.
I took Mogs to the RSPCA centre off Leasowe road, filled out the form and they're going to check for a microchip. Moggers the Mitten has a collar on and seems to have enjoyed many happy Meow Mix dinners, so someone is likely looking for him and, my own cat having been run over, I know I would prefer to know that rather than spend years looking out for them.
I took some photos to show where I'm talking about, thinking that'd be the easiest way for you to judge whether or not Mr. Mogs is the unwitting culprit.
On a related note, I would like to mention that over approximately the last 5 years, I have found a few tens of particularly irresponsible examples of littering. For example; significant quantities of still unopened / part used controlled sale / prescription only medicines, at least one insulin syringe poking out of an air grill on the side of a busy pavement (blade first), endless tampon applicators / condoms and so on. What has surprised me more than the items themselves is how little pattern there is to finding these particular things. They are not reserved for stereotypically 'dirty' areas or dropped / left by a specific group, they're dotted around universities, beaches, underpasses, parks, paths, doorways on busy streets. These types of litter, a university, hospital or commercial cleaning company has special bins, bags and procedures in place for entirely due to the risk the waste presents; it's pretty much all boxed and incinerated without human contact. E.g. tampons and applicators are removed from the special bins in bars by companies who have gone through all the paperwork to handle the contents. The person using the bin need not have any disease or infection but, because the item has blood / human fluid on it, the bacteria out in the wild will move it afterwards. Because it's blood / human fluid, they (unlike other germ problems) can be pathogenic, so they'll infect and seriously harm other humans.
Dog owners are by far the most likely people to spot such litter when out walking and it's worth checking what the dog has suddenly become interested in if it's not obviously a tree, ball, stick or burger bun if only to look out for your pet. Remembering though that dog owners can be fined and forced to pay up for not picking up their dogs poops, with the reason being it can cause Toxocariasis, you're also likely to appreciate the bias in people feeling fine to discard things that are as, or more, dangerous as litter; glass / paracetamol (kids can't metabolise some things adults are fine with) / proplus (there's enough caffeine in those to cause adults to have a heart attack, seriously...) / any and all forms of medicine packaging / toiletries / aluminium cans (particularly on playing fields, as the mower shreds them to something similar to razor fencing).
I would urge dog owners and walkers to keep an eye out for these things and to consider reporting it to wardens / rangers / the council. Hopefully people will become as bothered about those things (due to an impending fine) as they are about dog owners and poop. The best way to make the point might be to organise a week when lots of dog walkers take a camera / phone with them and photograph it, then compile the weeks photos to illustrate the point.