People Fixing the World What to do with stray animals
People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every week for most of the year. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.
Presenter: Myra Anubi
Producer: Claire Bates
Reporters: Maddie Drury, Andre Lombard
Editor: Jon Bithrey
Sound mix: Andrew Mills
(Image: Layla Kudri with a couple of street dogs on a hike in Mexico, BBC)
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Southwold divided over calls for beach ban for dogs to be eased
The debate over when dogs are allowed on Suffolk's beaches has been long 2017, dogs have been banned from certain beaches between May and October every in Southwold, dogs are banned from the main stretches of beach for an extra month - starting on 1 has prompted a petition by Southwold resident Jenny Cook, who wants the town's restrictions to be the same length as the Suffolk Council bosses are expected to debate the issue later, but what do beachgoers and dogwalkers in Southwold feel about this? 'The rules should be the same' Deborah Carrington is a dog owner and would like to see the rules relaxed."In fairness to Southwold I think there is a decent amount of beach available to dogs, but if they could extend the season that would be great."And the 68-year-old does understand it can be difficult for people with children."I understand if you are a family with young children then loads of dogs on the beaches is not always for the best," she said."But dog owners are usually quite responsible. It makes sense to me to follow the same rules as the rest of East Suffolk." Nessa and Martin Howen, 56 and 58 respectively, are on holiday in the area and said they understood why the ban was in place but would like to see it Howen said: "I do understand, not everyone is a responsible dog owner and they don't always pick up after themselves, which is why there is only certain beaches dogs can use."Mr Howen added: "It would be nice if the dogs were allowed on the beaches all year round because you get to a point where everyone is on the designated beaches and then the other beaches are empty."So the extra month would do us really." 'Some children are frightened of dogs' Julie Lucas, 57, meanwhile, said: "If I had young children and they were playing on the beach, I wouldn't want dogs on that beach. "There's a lot of dogs that are very friendly but there's also other dogs that aren't, and there's kids that love dogs and there's kids that are really frightened of them."I think Southwold has a really good status quo." Steven Janes, 63, is a dog owner himself but does not believe the ban should be shortened."Some people are not very responsible with what their dogs do on the beach and that spoils it for everybody," he told the BBC."My dog is very well behaved but I wouldn't completely trust him if people came too close."So, it's only fair that people can have their beach to themselves and we can go up the other end if we need to." 'It's a fair compromise' Councillor Sally Noble, portfolio holder for environment at East Suffolk Council, said the current ban was first discussed in 2017, and a number of residents actually wanted "an outright ban on dogs all year round"."So this was a compromise really, to have the ban from 1 April, because the beach is very well used at Easter," she added."Unfortunately there are a lot of dog owners who are not responsible and while you can pick up dog mess off the beach it's very hard to stop them from urinating on it."We know some people are frustrated by this and we are listening, but we have no intention of a complete ban." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
15 hours ago
- BBC News
More than 150 farms in England caught illegally using local water
More than 150 farms in England have been caught illegally taking too much water from rivers, lakes and underground sources, a BBC analysis mid-2022 there have been nearly 200 breaches of permits allowing farmers to use water from local sources, according to Environment Agency data obtained through a freedom of information these incidents, 141 threatened environmental damage - but just one farmer has been Environment Agency said in response that it carried out 3,000 licence inspections each year, with prosecution a "last option for persistent offenders". River campaigners said the breaches of so-called abstraction licenses were "the tip of the iceberg" and England's current enforcement system had "no deterrent effect".The violations date from the beginning of the record-breaking hot spell of 2022, which put pressure on water supply, to this spring, which has been the UK's sixth driest spring since records began in National Farmers' Union (NFU) has been approached for comment by the England, water is abstracted by water companies for public supply, by industry and for use in electricity generation, such as power station agriculture often needs large volumes from local sources for irrigation, particularly for water-intensive crops like potatoes in prolonged dry of water, particularly during a drought, can severely impact river levels and adversely affect fish and other wildlife and their habitats as well as intensify pollution the Water Resources Act 1991, the licensing system is in place to control how much water is taken and a licence is needed by anyone taking more than 20,000 litres a day. 'No deterrent effect' The Environment Agency inspects and monitors farms for any licence breach, which can be a prosecutable a request under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), BBC News found that, of the 199 breaches committed by 154 farms between 2022 and June this year, 141 incidents were category one, two or three breaches, all classed as having a foreseeable impact on "human health, quality of life or the environment".But only one farmer was prosecuted and one was given a fine as a civil sanction while 137 were simply given warnings or advice and no action was taken against are currently 12 ongoing farms breached their licences during the first five months of this year.A further four farms were found to be abstracting water without the necessary licence at figures come after a report last week by green watchdog The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) found that some licence-holders would only be inspected once in 20 years and, in 2023/24, 84% of licences were not being Justin Neal, from the river campaign group Wildfish, said the number of farm over-abstractors uncovered was "the tip of the iceberg"."With a minimal risk of being caught and few prosecutions, there is absolutely no deterrent effect."That means taking too much water is now an acceptable occupational risk," he added that the exemption that allows farmers to take up to 20,000 litres a day without a licence meant no-one could be sure how much water was being abstracted by farms across is now calling for more inspections and a new enforcement strategy with less focus on advice and greater use of "suitable sanctions" for those who break the law. 'Proportionate approach' The Environment Agency said it would be improving inspections using technology such as satellite monitoring to detect how much water is being put on fields and crops, and making better use of intelligence to identify the highest risk abstraction.A spokeswoman for the Agency said that it took its role as a regulator of how the country's water resources are used "extremely seriously"."If sites are found to breach their abstraction licence, we take an advice-led and proportionate approach with prosecution as a last option for persistent offenders," she month, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) announced the number of farm inspections would increase to 6,000 a year by June, the Environment Agency also published its five-year National Framework for Water Resources, which sets how water companies, farms, businesses and the public should best manage water usage into the set out plans to make all water abstraction environmentally sustainable, with particularly sensitive areas, such as chalk streams, given greater recognised the impact of water shortages on food production but said it would work with farmers to identify how they can become more resilient by sharing water resources and building jointly-owned reservoirs.
BBC News
16 hours ago
- BBC News
Wales' papers: Grandparents guilty of toddler murder
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