Madrid dog owners who let pets foul in public may have to work as street cleaners

Spain's cities have struggled for years with the issue of dog excrement

Around one quarter of households in Spain own a dog (Getty)

Dog owners in Madrid who fail to clean up after their pets defecate in public areas could be forced to sweep the streets.

The Spanish capital has distributed millions of free bags for collecting dog poo in an attempt to address the problems of dog fouling, but to little effect.

Now they are planning to trial a crackdown in two areas of the city, as yet unnamed, where the problem is particularly bad.

In a message to offending owners, Mayor Manuela Carmena said: “We know who you are and, beware, a massive wave of fines is coming your way.”

For those who cannot, or will not, pay a fine, there is another option.

“We are preparing a plan to substitute fines with cleaning work,” she told The Telegraph.

The fines are reported to range from €750 to €1,500 (about £580 to £1,160) but blind people with guide dogs will be exempted from the legislation. Around one quarter of Spanish households own a dog.

“There is still excrement in the streets, parks and other places” despite “repeated public awareness campaigns”, the Madrid city authorities said, according to the AFP news agency.

“The municipality has prepared a shock plan against these infractions which will start to be deployed shortly in two districts.”

Dog poo has been a persistent problem in Spain, blighting the streets of many cities. Authorities have tried various unusual methods over recent years to combat the problem.

In February, the central city of Guadalajara announced it was working towards creating a database of all dogs in the city, which has a population of 85,000. The efforts are intended to help authorities track down irresponsible owners, who currently can only be fined if the dog is caught in the act of leaving excrement behind, The Local reported.

"This measure will increase the vigilance on the streets in order to prevent dog-owners from leaving their pets' faeces in the public roads," the city council said.

"This situation is the number one complaint voiced throughout the year."

Councillor Francisco Úbeda added: "We hope that these measures will improve the health, hygiene and aesthetics of our city."

A similar scheme in the town of Seu d’Urgell had a “100 per cent” success rate, according to a representative of a company which helped to implement it.