Fury as tourists wedge dog poo bags into UK’s 1,900-year-old landmark | UK | News
United Kingdom, Northumberland, Haltwhistle, Hadrian’s Wall (Image: Markus Keller/Westend61/Cover Images)
Rangers have urged visitors to Hadrian’s Wall not to leave behind bags of dog poo but instead take them home; because shameless tourists were squeezing them into the cracks of the wall. It took 15,000 soldiers six years to build, and the UNESCO World Heritage site in northern England is probably the best-known Roman structure still visible in Britain.
But rangers complained that dog walkers were abusing this by using holes in the wall to hide plastic dog poo bags full of dog faeces.
Margaret Anderson, chief ranger of Northumberland National Park, said: “It’s a real sense of disappointment, we have such a magnificent site here that so many people want to come and enjoy.
Outrage over landmark dog poop abuse (Image: Northumberland National Park Authority)
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“When someone thinks it is acceptable to put poop bags on the UNESCO World Heritage list, it actually makes you quite sad.”
There are only 35 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the UK and its territories, including Hadrian’s Wall, Stonehenge and the Lake District.
Hadrian’s Wall took its name from the defensive walls that began in 122 AD during the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian.
The 73-mile-long northern England structure stretches from Wallsend on the River Tyne at Newcastle in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria in the west, and once had large moats before and behind, soldiers garrisoned in large forts, smaller forts and intervening turrets; The gates were also used as customs posts.
Anderson admits that there are very few bins on the famous central section of the wall, even in the car park at Steel Rigg, the gateway to the most visited area.
But explaining his reasoning, he added: “The last thing we want is to have more buildings here.
“And let’s face it, carrying your poop bag really isn’t hard, you can just buy little pouches to put it in, put it in your pocket or backpack until you have a place where you can dispose of it.”
Dog walker Taylor Hughes, from Wrexham in north Wales, agrees with Anderson that it’s not too difficult to carry your pet’s droppings in a bag while walking, and chastises those who aren’t “just lazy”.
He said: “Nobody likes picking up dog poo, but as a dog owner that’s exactly what you do.”
Another bag of dog poop thrown onto Hadrian’s Wall (Image: Northumberland National Park Authority)
Meanwhile, Emma Harrison, from Durham, who was walking with her dachshund Bobby, described the sight of bags of dog poo stuffed against Hadrian’s Wall as “absolutely horrifying”.
He continued: “There’s no reason why people shouldn’t put it in a bag and take it home.”
“I’ll stop by after little Bobby, I promise,” he laughs.
But bags of dog poop aren’t the only insult the famous defensive end has had to endure. People climb on it to take selfies, lift their children on it, or picnic on its wide edges.
But according to Tony Gates, the outgoing chief executive of the Northumberland National Park Authority, the dog poop issue is something he “can’t wrap my head around”.
“I mean, you came to see this amazing view, this amazing history, would it look the same if there was a poop bag hanging out every 50 metres? I don’t think so.”
