It's a fine thing!

It's very unusual to see a stray dog walking along the streets of central Vigo. In fact, to date I have seen only one, a small terrier walking purposefully along Urzaiz, clearly a dog with a destination! One reason for this may be that dog owners can be fined if their dogs are not on a leash in the street. In the case of the dog I saw, of course, you would have to find and catch the owner first. Saturday morning in the Castro Park seems to be the time and place to let the dogs run around.

Fouling the streets is also a finable offence, which probably explains why the majority of dog-owners here practise pooper-scooping. I read in the local paper the other day that, although the decision to tighten up on this was taken a couple of years ago, they have only just got around to imposing the first fine on a vigues dog-owner for failing to scoop the poop. Apparently the maximum fine could be 1500 euros for serious or repeat offenses. This offender is getting off lightly (?) then with a mere 750 euros to pay!!!

There has also, it seems, been a crackdown on the maltreatment of animals. Two other dog owners have each been fined 150 euros, one for keeping his dog in poor conditions and another for leaving his dog unsupervised in the car. Bloggers who leave their dogs in the car while giving conversation classes should take note!

Fine-ally, in the same article I read that someone has been reported and faces a possible 150 euro fine for kicking ... wait for it ... a pigeon. I must be careful. I have not yet kicked one but I have almost trodden on one or two as they are too lazy, too overfed or too confident around people to be bothered to move out of the way as you walk down the street.

A few thoughts spring to mind:

• are dog owners any more law abiding than the fairly high percentage of motorists who just ignore the fines that are imposed?
• will the animal lovers actually pay the fines?
• will someone start fining the people who drop their chewing gum and cigarette ends on the pavement?

I wonder!!!