Fears over razor-sharp pooper-scoopers in Salthill
The worst of the pooper -scooper dispensers on the Salthill Promenade are being replaced following their deterioration due to rust.
Some of the metal dispensers are in worse conditions than others ,depending on their location and proximity to sea salty sprays which cause them to rust.
One lady visitor to the city cut her hand on one of these dispensers on the Promenade near Blackrock recently.
She was reaching in for one of the brown paperbag scoopers after her dog was caught short.
“The mouth of the dispenser is rotten with rust, and it’s razor sharp. It’s deadly dangerous. If a child tried to take a bag out, they could easily take a finger off, that’s not an exaggeration. I usually have my own bags with me, but didn’t on this occasion.
”Kids love messing with these sort of things, and should be taught to clean up after their dog – I’m surprised there hasn’t been a serious injury.
“I rang the City Council to report it. They said they weren’t aware of the problem and would let the engineer know. If the dispensers are refilled regularly, how could the Council not know they were eaten away by rust?” she said.
A spokesman for the City Council said that the rusty ones were being replaced and that in the long term they would be looking at replacing them with ones made with non-corrosive material.
For more on this story, see this week's Galway City Tribune