New Forest District Council under fire after donkeys spotted eating from new ‘stock-proof’ food caddies

THE Forest’s new waste collection system has come under further fire after photos emerged of donkeys eating food waste from ‘stock-proof’ bins.

The images, which also show food waste strewn across the road in Brockenhurst, circulated barely a week after the bins’ introduction and come less than a month since commoners warned that Forest animals could contract dangerous diseases under the new system.

As reported the concerns were raised at the May meeting of the Verderers’ Court, when Commoners Defence Association chair Andrew Parry-Norton warned animals were at risk of contracting dangerous conditions such as African swine fever and foot and mouth disease.

Under NFDC’s new waste management system weekly collections of general waste and recycling in sacks have been scrapped in favour of fortnightly wheelie bin collections of general waste and recycling.

The council is also issuing each home with a brown outdoor caddy and a smaller grey indoor caddy for food waste, which are collected weekly. But the first week of the roll-out – for those in New Milton, Lymington and Brockenhurst – was plagued with problems, which NFDC put down to “teething issues”.

And in just the second week of their introduction, donkeys have been photographed eating from food waste bins.

Mr Parry-Norton told the A&T: “We had all seen the new food waste caddies, and I had warned that animals would inevitably find a way to get into them. They are very flimsy and would definitely pose no problem to a hungry sow.”

“At the moment it is just donkeys, but when the pigs are turned out for pannage the situation will get much, much worse. It hasn’t taken the animals very long to work out how to get into the bins and, once they have learn what to do, they will repeat the behaviour.”

Speaking last month, Richard Deakin told the Verderers’ Court: “It’s vitally important that Forest livestock do not have access to any food waste – meat products are of particular concern due to the recent outbreak of foot and mouth in Europe.”

Adding that another major concern is African swine fever which can occur when pigs are fed meat products, Mr Deakin said: “It’s illegal to feed pigs or any livestock kitchen scraps due to the high risk of disease.”

These concerns were echoed by Mr Parry-Norton who recounted an incident when three of his pannage pigs were intentionally fed sausages and burgers.

NFDC advises larger food waste caddies be stored outside and topped up. Mr Parry-Norton said: “I recently raised concerns with an NFDC councillor, to be told the plastic lids are hard to remove by humans so animals would not be able too.”

He continued: “I doubt this councillor has had any experience of what a large sow can do; a plastic bin would present no problem at all if it contains food waste.”

Brockenhurst resident Helga Parker said she was horrified when she realised her Labrador puppy was feasting on the waste that had been strewn across the road. She said: “My first reaction was ‘oh gosh what has he eaten and is this going to end at the vets?’.

“I am concerned for our wildlife and domestic animals should this food waste become a serious hazard in future.”

A spokesperson for NFDC said: “We are aware of a concern raised about donkeys potentially interfering with food waste caddies in parts of the New Forest. At this stage, we have had no data or reports from our crews to suggest that this is currently a widespread problem with the new food waste caddies. However, our collection teams are monitoring the situation as they go about their rounds, and we will continue to keep a close eye on this over the coming weeks.”

Cllr Jack Davies, member for Pennington and former mayor of Lymington, said the council had “clearly underestimated the sheer logistical nightmare” of the new system.

He added: “They’ve had to bring in outside contractors, the costs are ballooning, and many households are still without bins despite collections already starting. This isn’t teething trouble. It’s widespread confusion, missed deliveries, uncollected waste and streets littered with torn bin bags.”