There's no such thing as a dog poo fairy.

That's the message as Thanet launches its campaign to clean the streets of dog mess.

The drive reminds owners they are responsible for their dogs' mess, and urges them not to leave it to others to clean it up.

It also aims to make sure dog owners know they can put their dog poo bags in any rubbish bin, if a dog poo bin isn’t available.

The move is combined with a super pooper scooper powered by the council.

A small machined, called Fido, is used to hoover up dogs’ mess from all surfaces including grass. The equipment also sprays disinfectant onto the immediate area.

Annually, the machine picks up and removes more than 20 tonnes of dogs’ poo.

As part of the campaign, the council’s Community Enforcement team and dog wardens will be taking a zero tolerance approach and offenders face a fixed penalty fine of £80 or a maximum penalty of £1,000.

Cllr. Alan Poole, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, said:

‘This campaign is all about keeping our streets, parks and open spaces of dogs’ mess as it makes our streets and open spaces unsightly.

"We know that most dog owners do clean up after their dogs but this campaign aims to target those few dog owners who don’t clean up after their dog and blight the area for everyone else.

"This campaign aims to highlight that no-one else will pick it up as it’s your responsibility and leaving it for others is just not acceptable."

There are more than 290 dog poo bins across Thanet in parks, open grass and foreshore areas and the council collects more than one tonne of dogs’ mess daily.

Posters, leaflets and flyers with the campaign message, ‘There’s no such thing as a dog poo fairy’ will be advertised across Thanet and residents can download the poster atwww.thanet.gov.uk/dogpoofairy

Visit www.thanet.gov.uk/dogpoofairy for more information about the campaign.