Ivy Meager, 11, hit the headlines earlier this year when Burnham-On-Sea.com first reported that she had installed the dog poo bag dispensers made from plastic drink bottles along public footpaths around Burnham and Highbridge in an effort to reduce dog fouling.
Her initiative won the support of residents and was even featured on national TV, but her mum, Cova Meager, says Ivy was left “very shocked” after learning her home-made dispensers had been damaged and set on fire by mean vandals.
Cova told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “She was very upset that they were damaged, pulled down and thrown into people’s gardens. She can’t understand why anyone would have done this – Ivy is only trying to help keep our town clean.”
This week, Paul Chatwin, the owner of Burnham’s Royal Clarence Hotel on The Esplanade, presented Ivy with two new metal dog poo bag dispensers to be installed on lamp posts in an effort to help her tackle the problem.
Paul said: “It’s such a great idea by Ivy to tackle dog fouling like this and I was so disappointed to hear about the vandalism. I got in touch with Glasdon, who make metal poo bag dispensers, to see if they could help. We at the Royal Clarence Hotel have bought one for the town while Glasdon have donated another.”
“I don’t want Ivy to be put off by a few idiots – she ‘s done such an incredible thing in tackling dog fouling and we’re really keen to help her keep going!”
The two new metal dog poo bag dispensers are the same make as the five that the Town Council recently decided to purchase for Burnham and Highbridge.
Following the handover of the equipment, Ivy said: “I’m really grateful to Paul for his help and hope to have the new dispensers installed very soon!”
