North Devon dog poo message 'laughed at BLM'

North Devon Council said the posters "were certainly not intended to piggyback off the Black Lives Matter movement"

A council's anti-dog poo campaign has been accused of "undermining" the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

The slogan 'dog fouling matters' has been used by North Devon Council on posters to encourage owners to pick up after their pets.

Yasmin Beck told the authority the posters were "pointing a laughing finger" at the BLM campaign.

The council apologised but said the slogan was a "coincidence" as the posters had been up for 18 months.

'Snickering at it'

In a letter, Ms Beck urged the council to reconsider the choice of words on its posters, "as those words are currently taken by a rather important cause fighting for equality and justice".

"Let's get North Devon Council behind this movement, rather than looking as though they're snickering at it."

The council said concerns about the wording would be "raised with the relevant team" on future posters, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

"We are sorry for any offence which may have been caused," a council spokesman said.

"This poster was developed a while ago when the prominence of the Black Lives Matter campaign was not as large as it has been recently.

"The posters were certainly not intended to piggyback off the Black Lives Matter movement and any similarity in the wording is coincidence.

"North Devon Council recognises the importance of the Black Lives Matter campaign and fully supports the movement."