IT'S grim work but two community-spirited Stourbridge mums decided to muck in and stage a dog poo litter pick to help clean up after selfish pooch owners in Norton.

Fed-up of seeing dog poo littering the passageway between Hungerford Road and Eveson Road, Fran Kenwick and her friend Liz Robinson decided to take the matter into their own hands and clean up the area themselves.

Fran said: "It was a horrible sight to walk past four times a day and many other local people use the passageway too so, prompted by the Great British Clean Up, I decided to do something about it.

"I asked my friend Liz if I could borrow her litter picker, as she and her two young kids are seasoned litter pickers, and she kindly agreed to come with me and help.

"We cleared that area pretty quickly and wanted to do a bit more so we walked down one side of Norton Covert and found huge quantities of poo bags in the undergrowth by the entrance gate.

"In total we filled two bin bags of poo and other general litter and a large bag of plastic bottles and cans which I've put in my recycling collection bags."

Fran posted about her endeavour on social media and said she was "overwhelmed with comments about how disgusted people are at this lazy and selfish habit".

She added: "Many of the comments were from dog walkers themselves, the vast majority of whom clean up responsibly after their dogs and feel angry at the small number of people letting the side down.

"Many people also commented about the bizarre practice of hanging poo bags from trees which is also a very common sight."

Fran, a member of voluntary group Transition Stourbridge which aims to create a stronger and more sustainable community, continued: "We intend to pick more rubbish up from the covert as it's in our neighbourhood and is pretty strewn with rubbish at the moment. It's upsetting to know that wildlife could potentially be harmed by this and the natural beauty of our area is diminished.

"My hope is the less litter people see on the floor, the less likely they may be to drop it.

"In future, we'd like to engage with local schools and scout groups to take the kids out litter picking in the hope of better educating the next generation about pollution and waste."