Woman told she faces arrest for picking up dog mess and replacing it with chalk pictures of cupcakes

A one woman crusade to clean up a “plague” of dog mess in Crouch End, London, is risking falling foul of the law. Louise Willows was recently stopped by patrolling police officers as she was daubing a message in chalk on a wall warning dog owners to “please clear up your dog’s mess”. The mother-of-two, of nearby Ridge Road, was told to scrub the message off after the incident and was let go with a stern warning that she risks arrest.



She said: “I’m prepared to stand trial for this, but I don’t think I would ever be arrested and I don’t think any judge in the land would throw the book at me for what I’m doing.” Dubbing her mission “The Crouch End Cakewalk”, her graffiti attempt at warning dog owners to pick up after their pets is just part of her campaign.

In a bid to highlight a growing problem in the area, she is clearing up dog waste left by thoughtless owners and sketching chalk cupcakes in their place. In just three days, Ms Willows painted 25 cupcakes on streets close to her home.



“With two little children it just fills me with horror,” she said. “It’s obviously disgusting and epidemic across Britain but there seems to be a plague of it in Crouch End. I never remember it being this bad. I don’t want to be doing this, but it’s getting out of hand and the risk to public health is high.” Seeing the “repulsive” job as a short-term solution, she hopes the cupcakes - a reference to her name on community forum OpinioN8 - will make dog owners take notice and clean up their act.