Mystery of white flags placed in dog mess on streets in Dordogne
Anonymous flag-planter plans to keep up with action as guilty owners go back to clean up
The novel method help residents avoid the mess… but also guilt owners into cleaning up
Saklakova/Shutterstock
Mysterious white flags appearing in dog mess left on the streets of a Dordogne village are baffling residents… but are helping to make streets cleaner.
The small white flags are taped to a wooden skewer and planted in the mess left on streets and roads in Lisle as a sign – both to walkers to avoid stepping in it, and to shame the owners into cleaning up after their pets.
There are fines for leaving dog mess in the commune but it is not known that any have ever been issued.
Vigilante tracked town
The anonymous flag-planter was tracked down by a local media outlet, and claims he will continue to keep planting the shaming symbols until things improve.
He recently moved to the area and said he was struck by the amount of dog mess on the streets.
“I saw a huge one, right in front of my house. I thought to myself, well, if you let your dog do its thing here, you really don't give a damn about people,” he said.
“Especially in a village like this, where everyone knows everyone else,” it is unacceptable to leave the mess, he added.
He has no plans to stop – “I'm going to start doing it in other nearby areas,” he said, although he understands that his actions are not universally popular with local residents.
Despite believing his actions are polarising, they seem to have borne fruit: guilty dog owners have gone back to the scene of their crimes, picking up the mess and even leaving the flags to be reused for future guilty parties.
The mairie confirmed it was not their employees going out to clean up, showing the success of the method.
A video showing some examples of the white flags – as well as the opinion of local residents on the saga – can be found in this FranceBleu link.
Communes tackle dog mess
Did you know some areas in France require the DNA of local dogs to be kept in a database so that owners found guilty of leaving a mess in public can be fined?
Read more: 1,104 dog owners in French town give pet DNA so mess can be traced
In other communes in the Dordogne, fines for not picking up dog mess can reach up to €750.
Read more: Dordogne town gets tougher on dog waste with police help
