‘Dog owners are less intelligent’

BOOS and cheers faded to silence as new rules governing dog control in Warwick district were passed on Wednesday.

Despite a pledge to take rules governing dogs in parks and cemeteries back to the drawing board, an unpopular rule enabling officials to order owners to put their pets on leads was passed on Wednesday.

Campaigner Kate Pittel spoke on behalf of dog owners, saying it was “astounding” that councillors had worked on proposals without understanding the issue.

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Describing the orders as “utterly unenforcable”, she criticised “open-ended” wording of exclusion zones in ‘multi-use’ games areas, asked why there were no exemptions for disabled dog owners, and whether private contractors would be brought in to enforce the new rules.

Announcing further consultation on rules for cemeteries and parks and Warwick Racecourse, Cllr Michael Coker (Con, Kenilworth Abbey) said: “I hope to a certain extent we have listened.”

He said the remaining orders were “no problem” to responsible owners, adding a rule passed three years ago banning dogs from cemeteries was now being relaxed.

Cllr Anne Blacklock (Lib Dem, Kenilworth Abbey) suggested scrapping the order enabling officers to tell owners to put unruly dogs on leads, calling it “subjective, unnecessary and disproportionate”. Cllr Richard Edwards (Lab, Willes) suggested replacing it with “more targeted and credible” rule worked on with dog owners.

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Cllr Bob Dhillon (Con, Warwick West) called for more time but both ideas were voted down.

Conservatives pointed out the orders were simply an amalgam of existing by-laws and agreed to improve the way children’s play area boundaries were marked.

But Cllr Moira-Ann Grainger (Warwick North) said she could not understand “uproar” from responsible owners who would never be affected, and there were gasps of disbelief as Cllr George Illingworth (Con, Kenilworth Abbey) cited Bristol University evidence suggesting cat owners were more intelligent than dog owners, and said many had misunderstood the orders.

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